MXC Looks for Second-Straight Victory
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - There are sunny days ahead for the Seton Hall men's cross country program and not only because the Pirates travel to Daytona Beach, Florida to compete in the ASICS Embry-Riddle Classic on Saturday.
The Hall is two weeks removed from a trophy-winning performance at the 8K Delaware Invitational and will once again tackle 8,000-meters in what will be its fourth appearance of the fall.
Seton Hall joins a Division I field that includes a numbers of squads hailing from the Sunshine State in Bethune-Cookman, Florida International and Stetson.
Freshman Jake Simon (Freehold, N.J.) recorded his first team-leading performance at Delaware, extending his scoring streak to three with a time of 27:16.18 in his first collegiate 8K race. Simon was at the front of a Seton Hall top-five that included two more underclassmen as freshman Jeff Larson (Yucca Valley, Calif.) and sophomore Sean Kip (Union, N.J.) placed fourth and fifth on the squad respectively; each collecting their second scoring effort in three outings.
Larson and Kip came across the line within a second of the 28-minute mark as all five scorers finished within 45 seconds of each other.
Sandwiched in the middle of the group was a pair of senior standouts in Kevin and John Walsh (Deltaville, Va.) who occupied second and third for the Pirates. Kevin Walsh has now collected a top-two finish on the team in all three races while John returned to the contributing group after scoring in the season opener at Monmouth.
Two of the top runners from last season in Victor Ricci (Narragansett, R.I.) and Ryan Flannery (Forked River, N.J.) placed sixth and eighth for The Hall in the first 8K of the season while junior Walter Grosenheider (Madison, Wisc.) ranked a season-best seventh to comprise a tightly-compacted lead group.
With an influx of newcomers who have pushed the pace and a number of veterans who contributed significantly to the team's progress a season ago continuing to jell, the Pirates are primed to head into the championship season in top form.
One more race remains prior to the run of championship meets however and Seton Hall aims to continue to display its improved depth and ability to challenge the top of the leaderboard in its first trip to Daytona Beach since 2012.
The Pirates will enter a meet-high 18 runners into the men's field. Start-time for the men's college 8K is slated for 7:20 a.m.
