The STAC cross country team added another strong showing to the season on Saturday at the UAlbany Invitational. The Lady Spartans were lead by Keeley Bateman (19:37) and Sarah Callagy (19:57). The men's squad ran as two five man teams with Mike Galonski leading one squad in 27:03 and Garvenchy Nicolas leading the other in 29:16.
The Lady Spartans continued their successful run placing 3rd out of all the DII teams. Bateman was the first Lady Spartan finisher for the second consecutive week, while Callagy's consistency helped to solidify the finish. Junior Chelsea Klinger was the next to cross the line in a time of 20:59. Classmates Lisa Brevogel and Lauren Karpoich rounded out the scoring with times of 22:55 and 23:01 respectively.
Galonski clocked the fastest Spartan time of the day and was the second freshman finisher against East Coast Conference competition. The next three STAC runners worked together for the majority of the race. Graduate student Vinny Modafferi was the next finisher in 28:18 with freshman Matt Buel only five places back with a time of 28:29. Classmate Mike Kraus finished 4 seconds later in 28:33. Freshman Kyle Curran (31:00) was the final scorer for the first STAC team.
Sophomore Garvenchy Nicolas ran a personal best as the first place finisher from STAC's second team. He covered the 8K course in 29:16. Freshman Jon Laszlo (30:54) ran a tough race and posted another solid time. Junior Matt Muniz ran his best race of the 2010 season completing the course in 32:56. Freshman Chris McKenna and senior Dan Nilsen rounded out the scoring for STAC in 32:56 and 33:04 respectively.
The Spartan cross country squad returns to action on Friday at the St. Rose Joust in Albany, NY. The women are slated to begin at 3:00 PM followed by the men at 3:45 PM.