The 1st Annual Spartan Alumni Race took place on Saturday at Tallman Mountain State Park. Senior Sarah Callagy set the Lady Spartan 5K record of 19:02 with her 1st place finish. This tops sophomore Keeley Bateman's record of 19:10 in the 2010 season. Freshman Joe Chegwidden set the new STAC course standard in the men's 5K in 16:39, breaking assistant coach Andrew Gangemi's previous mark. Vinny Modafferi was the first male alumni finisher, while Laura Koch was the first female in. Following the race, all participants enjoyed breakfast in the Romano Student Center.
Callagy has led the Lady Spartans in each of three 2011 competitions. Bateman finished the race in second place in a time of 19:32. Senior Chelsea Klinger dropped nearly one minute off last week's time crossing the line at 20:39. A pair of freshmen rounded out the scorers with Ashley Weintraub leading the way. Weintraub ran a collegiate best of 21:26, followed by Katelyn Garvey who finished in 21:33. Seniors Lisa Brevogel and Lauren Karpoich ran season bests in 21:39 and 22:43. Junior Ashley Santa Teresa continued to drop her time, coming in at 23:27. Koch was the lone alumni runner to participate.
While Chegwidden set the new course record, classmate Alex Andre was pushing him throughout the race. Andre finished 2nd in 16:47. Third place was taken by 2010 Modafferi in 17:02 and assistant coach Gangemi crossed the line in 17:20. Sophomores Garvenchy Nicolas (17:42) and Matt Buell (17:47) worked together to secure 5th and 6th places. Alumni Elmer Eckert was next in 17:57. Jonathan Laszlo (18:31), Stephen Dietrich (18:59) and Chris McKenna (19:23), all sophomores, took the next three spots. Senior Chris Muniz finished in 11th place in 20:27. Rafael Ortiz and Dan Nilsen of the alumni squad rounded out the scorers. The Spartan Team finished with 22 points for 1st place followed by the Alumni Men who finished with a score of 39.
The STAC cross country teams return to action on Friday at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University.