Ithaca Claims MXC Championship; Hitchcock Wins Individual Title
RESULTS
PHOTO GALLERY
The Ithaca College men's cross country team placed first out of eight teams Saturday at the 2014 Empire 8 Cross Country Championships hosted at Saratoga Spa State Park. The Bombers recorded 21 points to claim their fifth straight and seventh overall Empire 8 crown. Ithaca also ran to victory in 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Ithaca junior Sawyer Hitchcock led from start to finish and claimed his first individual E8 title with a time of 26:00.1 over the 8K course.
Stevens Institute of Technology placed five student-athletes in the top-15 registering a score of 45 points and a team average time of 26:39.9. St. John Fisher placed third in the team standings with 108 points, followed by Hartwick (110), Utica (125), Nazareth (165), Alfred (175) and Houghton (228).
All of Ithaca's top seven runners finished in the the top-20 and five finished in the top-10. Sophomore
Sean Phillips finished second overall out of 87 runners, clocking a time of 26:09.6. Freshman
Tim Chappell, junior
Stephen Gomez and senior
Dennis Ryan finished consecutively in fifth, sixth and seventh. Chappell recorded a time of 26:33.9, Gomez a time of 26:25.6 and Ryan a time of 26:36.3. Sophomores
Jesse Capellaro and
Shane Connor rounded out the Bombers' top seven ranking 11th and 17th overall. Capellaro finished in 26:49.6 and Connor in 27:07.2, both earning personal best times.
Stevens was led by senior
Thomas Cunningham who took third overall in a time of 26:13 on the 8K course. Sophomore
Nicholas Zickgraf followed behind at fourth with a 26:15. Freshman
Greg Arabagian was the third Duck to finish within the top 10 with a ninth place showing in 26:44.
Senior Evan Magnussen was the first Cardinal to cross the finish line in 26:43.0 to place eighth overall. Freshman James Felice took 13th in a time of 27:00.5.
Hartwick senior Matt Loignon's time for the race was 26:47.0 to finish tenth, while Chris Shaw finished 12th (26:52.3).