Utica Men Take Second Place at Oswego XC Invitational
Oswego, N.Y. (9/10/11) - The Utica College men’s cross country team continued its strong 2011 campaign with an impressive second place finish at the Oswego State Invitational Saturday morning. Sophomore Morgan Payne and freshman Cody Racha came in second and third palce overall in the field of 148 runners to help the Pioneers post a great showing at the 12 team race. Payne finished just over three seconds off the winning mark set by SUNY Cobleskill’s Conor Cashin. Payne finsihed with a time of 26:43.25 in the men’s 8K, while Racha came in right behind him with a time of 26:44.40.
Cashin, Payne and Racha were the only three runners in the race to post sub 27 minute finishing times. Utica sophomore Robert Baird took home 13th place with a time of 27:36.36, while junior Hunter Padgett seems to be finding his stride after a 16th place finish (27:54.24). The Pioneers had five runners place in the top 20, including freshman Zach Godfrey, who took home 19th place after posting a time of 28:04.28.
Junior Tyler Hayes registered a very respectable time of 28:15.26 to earn 24th place, whiel freshman Noah Huff came in 33rd with a time of 28:51.04. Not far behind Huff was sophomore Eric Stevens, brother of former Utica standout Brian Stevens, who finished in 37th after running the 8K course in 29:03.24.
Freshman Jamie McNamara and sophomore Harrison Quamily rounded out the top 50 finishers with times of 29:31.39 and 29:47.12, respectively.