Freshman Keeley Bateman broke the STAC 5k school record with a time of 19:09 finishing in 2nd place in the Highlander Invitational at Branch Brook Park on Sunday.  For the men's team, freshman Mike Galonski came within 7 seconds of the 8K school record finishing in 4th with a time of 26:05.

While Bateman set the pace, junior teammate Sarah Callagy kept her in sight finishing in a personal best 19:22 in 4th place.  Callagy had set the previous school record of 19:43 on September 18th at the C.W. Post Invitational.  Chelsea Klinger was the next Lady Spartan to cross the line in 18th place with a time of 20:38.  Classmate Lauren Karpoivh set a new personal record of 22:16 which is more than 1:30 faster than her previous races.  Lisa Brevogel rounded out the scorers for the Spartans coming in right behind Karpoich with a time of 22:36.  The Lady Spartans finished in 3rd place out of 15 teams.

Galonski ran a strong race dropping one minute from his former personal best.  Graduate students Vinny Modafferi and Einar Brissing both scored in the top 20 with times of 27:26 and 27:45 respectively.  Five of the Spartans remaining eight runners set personal records.  Freshmen Matt Buell (28:06), Mike Kraus (29:12), Kyle Curran (30:06), Jon Laszlo (30:27) and Chris McKenna (31:37) dropped more than 9 minutes collectively from their previous bests. The Spartans earned a 4th place finish for the day in a field of 15 teams.

The STAC cross country team will return to action on Saturday at the UAlbany Invitational.