Juniors Keeley Bateman and Michael Galonski set new school records for the Spartan cross country program. Bateman recorded a time of 18:45 in the 5K while Galonski followed suit in the men's race clocking in at 25:31 in the 8K at the NJIT Highlander Invitational at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ.
Bateman has added another line to the impressive resume she has built as a Lady Spartan. Thus far in her career, she has been the conference Rookie of the Year, a member of the 2010 conference championship team, a 3X 1st Team All-Conference selection and now the school record holder in the 5K. She broke the record of former teammate Sarah Callagy who competed from 2008-2011. Bateman's 4th place finish on Sunday helped her team to a 3rd place finish overall as they prepare for the conference championship in two weeks. She received a great deal of support from her teammates who recorded 5 individual personal bests. Freshman Meagan Jaskot crossed the line in 19:31 followed by classmate Cecelia Pfleging at 19:58 who both dropped below 20 minutes for the first time in their collegiate careers. Sophomore Katelyn Garvey dropped two second off her former personal bests with a 20:27 finish. Graduate student Julia Karl was the final scorer for the Lady Spartans coming in at 20:48. The final three competeitors for the Lady Spartans, Ashley Weintraub, Gina Funaro and Ashley Santa Teresa also ran well completing the course in 21:40, 22:26 and 23:44 respectively.
Galonski, a 3x All-Conference runner, met another on of his personal goals in setting the record. Galonski has stepped into the STAC history books with this accomplishment. He is only the second runner to break 26 minutes in Ballou's coaching tenure. Galonski's consistency this season and commitment to improvement has been evident. His fourth place finish led his team to a 2nd place finish overall. Sophomore Joseph Chegwidden crossed the line in 26:38 followed by freshmen Kris Trautz (26:55) and Alex Castellanos (27:11). All three times are personal records. Junior Matthew Buell was the final Spartan scorer coming in at 27:21. Senior Garvenchy Nicolas powered down the stetch picking off the competition and finishing in 27:53. Juniors Jonathan Laszlo (29:31) and Michael Kraus (29:33) worked together throughout the race. Classmates Kevin Roth and Stephen Dietrich rounded out the Spartan competitors in 30:48 and 30:56.
The STAC cross country team will take next weekend off in prpearation for the East Coast Conference Championship on October 21st at LIU Post in Brookville, NY.