MONTGOMERY, New York — Both Quinnipiac cross country teams traveled to Montgomery, NY for the annual MAAC Cross Country Championships. The women’s team was hunting for a fourth straight title, while the men’s team was looking to improve from its 11th-place overall team finish from last year
The women went out and defended their title, with senior runner Sierra Gray earning the top runner spot for Quinnipiac with a time of 20:20 in the six-kilometer race, good for third overall. Rachel St. Germain finished right behind her with a time of 20:29. To round out the top five, Madeline O’Neil finished seventh, followed by Zoe Merryman in ninth and first-year Ashley Carillo in 13th. The scoring for the Championship is the combined placements of the team’s top five runners, so the Bobcats scored a 36, which was five points higher than last season’s 31.
“It was really exciting,” said head coach Carolyn Martin. “We never take it lightly because we know there are a lot of great teams in our conference. Coming into it, we know it is a little scary knowing we have a target on our back after last year… They put their team’s needs in front of their individual ones, and it made for a really great day.”
A big question for the team this season was the loss of some top runners, including Alessandra Zaffina, Lauren Selkin, and Corrine Barney. All three of those runners finished in the top five at last year’s MAAC Championships, which posed the question: Did Quinnipiac have enough depth?. The team brought in transfer Merryman from St. Thomas Aquinas, who placed ninth overall, and Carillo found herself on the all-rookie team.
“There was some doubt, people counted us out but everyone stepped up and I think that was the most important thing.” said senior Sierra Gray.
The women’s team will be back in action when they head up to the NCAA Northeast Regionals in Hopkinton, NH.
“Our goal is to get our highest finish ever at regionals,” said Carolyn Martin. “We want to put Quinnipiac on the map in the region and we just have to keep this team healthy going forward.”
In 2023, Quinnipiac qualified as a team for the national meet, but last year they did not do so, and were able to send some individual athletes. No matter the results, it has been a successful season for the Bobcats, and they are going to look to finish strong on Nov. 14.
The men’s cross country team did not win a MAAC Championship. It was the Iona Gaels who defended their title which dates back to 1991. That’s right, it was their 35th straight title, an NCAA record.
For Quinnipiac, they had one major goal for this season and that was progress. The Bobcats did just that after placing 11th in the conference as a team last season; they finished eighth on Saturday.
“We were really pleased with our overall performance as a team,” said head coach David Scrivines. “We came in wanting to make improvements as a team and individually and we did just that… We improved ourt team average by about 40 seconds so we were really pleased with that.
Quinnipiac’s top runner was Alex Saldana. He finished 32nd overall with a 25:24 in the eight kilometer race. Just like the women’s team, the men’s team also had a first-year in their top five. Shepard Livingston finished behind Saldana with a 26:05. He was followed by junior Michael Strain, first year Tyler Deme and sophomore Alessandro Tullo Alvarez.
Saldana showed major improvement himself, moving up 13 places in the race and improving his time by about 20 seconds. Saldana came in as a first year last year and immediately made an impact, becoming the top runner on the team rather quickly.
“He had another great year,” said Scrivines. “He’s had two really great years for us, so it’s been fun to watch. He’s put in the work and he does a lot of the little things which have to be done because the better you get, the tougher it is to make incremental improvements.”
The team will also travel back to Hopkinton, NH for the NCAA Northeast Regionals. The Bobcats will be matched up against top teams in the Ivy League, including a strong Harvard team. The Bobcats aren’t worried about the results; they just care that they are improving and Scrivines is “viewing it as an opportunity.”
