Ithaca Claims MXC Championship; Hitchcock Repeats as Individual Champion
RESULTS
The Ithaca College men's cross country team placed first out of nine teams Saturday at the 2015 Empire 8 Cross Country Championships hosted at Field of Dreams Course in Houghton, NY. The Bombers recorded 32 points to claim their sixth straight and eighth overall Empire 8 crown.
Ithaca junior Sawyer Hitchcock ran with the lead pack for the first half of the race and then broke away to claim his second straight individual E8 title with a time of 25:08.6 over the 8K course.
Utica College placed five student-athletes in the top-20 registering a second place score of 60 points. St. John Fisher placed third in the team standings with 80 points, followed by Stevens (81), Alfred (122), Nazareth (164), Houghton (199), Hartwick (225) and Elmira (255).
All of Ithaca's top seven runners finished in the the top-20 and three finished in the top-5.
Hitchcock was 21 seconds faster than the runner-up, who was sophomore Tim Chappell. Chappell crossed in 25:29.8. Junior Sean Phillips took third overall in a time of 25:32.4 to shave 37 seconds off last year's outing. Junior Jesse Capellaro crossed in 12th place in 26:06.1, while senior Stephen Gomez rounded out the Bombers' top five in 14th with a time of 26:12.3.
Juniors Shane Connor and Brendan Davis came in 16th and 19th overall in times of 26:40.4 and 26.44.5.
Senior Kyle Cairns who ran a season best and school-record breaking time of 25:44.0 led Utica. Cairns placed sixth followed closely by freshman Tyler Wright (26:01.5) and junior Erick Winberg (26:01.9) who placed ninth and tenth.
Fisher’s Charles Collins led the way for the Cardinals, placing eighth overall with a time of 25:52.6 for the 8,000-meter course. Sophomore James Felice was 11th overall at 26:03.9.
Stevens sophomore Greg Arabagian finished the 8K event in fourth place with a time of 25:34.5, while junior Nicholas Zickgraf placed seventh with a mark of 25:48.
Alex junior Alex Hall was the Saxons' top performer, finishing the 8-kilometer course in 25:38.50, good for fifth place. Sophomore Kyle Gallo was 13
th in 26:10.20.
Senior Patrick Neureuter was the top Nazareth finisher with a time of 26:49.1.
Houghton was led by Cory McCarty who finished 41st in 27:28.2 and Matthew Gostomski who was 45th in 27:50.9.
Hartwick's Tim Mahoney ran the 8K course in 27:27.4 to finish in 39
th place out of 95 runners.
Elmira competed in its first-ever E8 Championship meet and had a pair of runners turn in record times. Senior Cody Stinson and sophomore James Fritsche finished four-tenths of a second apart to claim 61st and 62nd place, respectively.
Stinson will graduate with the fastest time in program history at 28:22.50, over 40 seconds faster than his previous PR, which he set at the Mike Woods Invitational on October 3rd. Fritsche trimmed 43.50 seconds off of his time from the Mike Woods Invitational at 28.22.90.