Greenwich, NY --- Graduate student Everett Mosher (Chester, VT) broke the 24-minute barrier to win the RPI Fairgrounds Showdown on Saturday, leading the No. 17 WPI men's cross country team to third place at the Washington County Fairgrounds.
The Engineers scored 82 points to finish behind a pair of nationally-ranked top-10 programs in the 15-team field. SUNY Geneseo, tied for fourth nationally, won with 24 points, followed by No. 8 RPI with 41. WPI, up 11 spots in this week's USTFCCCA Division III National Coaches' Poll, outdistanced Vassar (133) and Hamilton (149) to complete the top three.
Mosher negotiated the 8K course in 23:56.5, holding off SUNY Geneseo's Collin Brown by 1.5 seconds. His winning effort shaved 20.2 seconds from the collegiate best he established a week earlier at the Cardinal Invitational and headlined a day on which 13 Engineers improved their career marks.
Freshman Tucker Presnell (Oakland, CA) claimed 14th in 24:35.8, taking 27.2 seconds off his previous best. Junior Drew O'Reilly (Syracuse, NY) followed in 29th at 24:55.1, improving his career mark by 15.8 seconds and giving WPI three runners under 25 minutes.
Freshman Nicholas Falcone (Morris Plains, NJ) delivered the largest improvement among the Engineers, dropping 58.7 seconds to finish 32nd in 25:06.4. Sophomore Matthew Meerdink (Ballston Spa, NY) secured WPI's final scoring position in 34th at 25:11.0, a 20.1-second improvement. Each of the Engineers' five scorers left Greenwich with a new collegiate best.
Junior Colin Britner (Hampton, CT) clocked 25:24.8 for 49th, while classmate Jackson Sobelman (Redding, CT) and freshman Nathaniel Henshaw (Templeton, MA) crossed less than a second apart in 54th and 55th at 25:30.6 and 25:31.5. The trio lowered their previous bests by 10.7, 27.5 and 28.2 seconds, respectively.
Career-best efforts also came from junior Alden Betterley (Bow, NH), who took 93rd in 26:26.4, and sophomore Giuseppe Villani (Shrewsbury, MA), who finished 94th in 26:28.6. Freshman Adam Lewis (Medford, MA) edged senior Trip Williams (Pelham, NH) by a tenth of a second for 98th, with the pair recording personal standards of 26:38.0 and 26:38.1. WPI's first 12 finishers all set collegiate bests and placed inside the top 100.
Senior Ryan Coceano (Cinnaminson, NJ) crossed 105th in 26:49.3, and junior Luke Holden (Carver, MA) posted his first collegiate 8K result with a 27:18.3 effort for 127th. Freshman Connor Earle (Duxbury, MA) brought the total to 13 improved career marks, cutting 31.8 seconds to finish 144th in 27:45.2.
WPI returns to competition on Saturday, October 17th, at the Conn College Invitational at Harkness Memorial State Park.
Results
