NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women’s cross country team placed three runners in the top 23 on the way to a third-place finish at the College of Staten Island Invitational, held on Sunday at Van Cortlandt Park.
The Valiant women posted their best finish of the season at the 16-team event, finishing with 118 points that trailed only Suffolk University (95 points) and the Fashion Institute of Technology (113 points) in the 6K race.
Sophomore Pilar Mahady (Bedford Hills, N.Y.) paced the Valiants on the day, finishing 18th in the 103-woman field with a time of 30.21. Freshman Olivia Maldonado (Port Washington, N.Y.) came in close behind in 20th place, crossing the line in a time of 30.40, followed very soon after by classmate Kayleigh Brooks (North Haven, Conn.) with a time of 30.56 that placed her 23rd overall.
Two more Valiant harriers easily finished inside the top 50 as well, as senior Amanda Granata (Mahopac, N.Y.) posted a time of 31.05 to place 28th overall and freshman Nicole Muschio (Pawling, N.Y.) completed her first collegiate race in 32.17 to finish in 37th place.
Sophomore Katie Alton (Charlton, Mass.) and junior Michelle Rojas (White Plains, N.Y.) also represented Manhattanville at the event, finishing in times of 35.16 (63rd place) and 36.07 (71st place), respectively.
The men’s team recorded three solid performances from sophomore Josh Marrero (Elmsford, N.Y.), sophomore Mhla Ncube (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe), and freshman Chad Spaeth (Carmel, N.Y.), but unfortunately the team could not field a fourth runner and thus did not have the requisite number of participants to score in the event.
Marrero led the way for the Manhattanville men, placing 30th out of 132 runners with a time of 32.48. Spaeth finished the race in 53rd place with a time of 34.55, followed by Ncube’s time of 35.49 that placed him 68th overall.
Manhattanville will return to action on Saturday, when the Valiants look to see how they fare against Middle Atlantic Conference opposition at the DeSales University Invitational in Center Valley, Pa.