MXC Rolls into Delaware Invitational
9/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Six days after coming within two points of a team victory, the Seton Hall men's cross country squad will tackle the 8K distance for the first time this fall when the Pirates travel to the Delaware Invitational.
The Hall men missed out on making it a two-win day for the Pirates at the St. John's/Hofstra Fall Festival by a mere two points as Hofstra narrowly claimed the title. Despite the final scores however, Seton Hall had six runners cross the line before the Pride completed their scoring - all of which came inside the top-12 Division I competitors.
Senior Kevin Walsh (Deltaville, Va.) continued his early season surge, pacing the squad for the second-straight week with a 5K mark of 16:14.7. Walsh's time was the fourth-fastest in the division, but just two-tenths of a second ahead of freshman Jake Simon (Freehold, N.J.) who after placing fifth on the team in his debut at Monmouth; finished fifth overall and second for the Pirates.
After finishing outside The Hall's top-five for the first time in his career, sophomore Victor Ricci (Narragansett, R.I.) returned to the scoring group with an eighth-place time of 16:29.8. Ricci came in just seconds in front of teammates Sean Kip (Union, N.J.) and Bryant Cordova (Elizabeth, N.J.) who rounded out the scoring group.
Ricci and Kip are one-half of the team's four returning scorers from a second-place showing at the 2013 Delaware Invitational, joining junior Ryan Flannery (Forked River, N.J.) and sophomore Cameron Quisenberry (Owensboro, Ky.).
Last season, the Delaware Invitational was the first of four consecutive 8K races leading into the BIG EAST Championship of the same distance - a meet that saw Ricci, Quisenberry and Flannery turn in the three fastest 8K marks the Pirates ran all season.
During the beginning stages of 2014 however, The Hall's class of newcomers has accounted for half of the team's 10 scoring efforts. Cordova and Simon have each finished among the team's top-five in each of the first two weeks while classmate Jeff Lawson (Yucca Valley, Calif.) placed second on the squad in the opener.
Freshman Louis Bustamante (Hamburg, N.J.) registered a sixth-place team finish at Oakdale, further showing that the core of underclassmen has continued to push the standard of performance to a higher level.
Last season, there was over a 52 second difference between Ricci's team-leading time at the St. John's/Hofstra Fall Festival and that of Tyler Orner (Sinking Spring, Pa.) who placed fifth for the team that day. On Sunday, the gap between Walsh and Cordova was less than 23 seconds and a total of 10 Pirates finished within 52 seconds of the top time on the team.
Such consistency throughout the lineup could engender sustained team success, something the Pirates will aim to take another step towards on Saturday.
The Pirates will take the course at White Clay Creek State Park on Saturday morning. The men's 8K event will begin at 10:45 a.m.
