Seton Hall University
Metropolitan Championships
Pirates Show Depth, Take 7th at METS
10/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Walsh compiled an 8K time of 27:47.00, which was over 23 seconds better than his 8K mark at the Asics Embry-Riddle Classic two weeks ago in Florida. Jeff Larson (Yucca Valley, Calif.) was just seconds from breaking the 28-minute mark, which he did in his season-best performance (27:59.70) at the Delaware Invitational in September. The freshman finished at 28:05.2 and continued on what has been a standout rookie season for the blue and white.
The Pirates' youth continued to shine in the Bronx, as a highly competitive team continued to show its versatility on Friday. Freshman Bryant Cordova (Elizabeth, N.J.) slid inside of the top-50 with a time of 28:15.1. The 49th-place finish for Cordova gave the freshman his third top-three performance in the team standings this season.
Two Pirate veterans filled the next two spots on the team leaderboard, as senior John Walsh (Deltaville, Va.) and junior Ryan Flannery (Forked River, N.J.) finished 57th and 59th, respectively. Walsh's time of 28:25.80 was his third straight scoring effort at the 8K distance. Flannery, who scored for The Hall in eight of nine meets last fall, rounded out the Pirates' top-five with a time of 28:33.1.
Junior Walter Grosenheider (Madison, Wisc.) finished with a mark of 28:49.10 (64th) and sophomore Victor Ricci (Narrangansett, R.I.) and freshman Louis Bustamante (Hamburg, N.J.) slid into the top-70 with times of 28:50.1 and 28:53.4, respectively.
Seton Hall finished with 206 points on the day. Fordham snatched the team title in dominating fashion with 26 points, while NYU took the runner-up at 75 points.
At the halfway point of the season, the Pirates have managed to tally a team title at the University of Delaware Invitational while also running to a pair of runner-up finishes at the Hofstra/St. John's Invitational and the Asics Embry-Riddle Classic.
Head coach John Moon will aim to get his team into tune-up mode before the Big East Championship at the end of October as the Pirates next travel to Easton, PA, for the Leopard Invitational. The race will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.
