Sep 7, 2013
BRONX, N.Y. - Watching six of the top 10 runners cross the finish line, the Navy men's cross country squad cruised to a first-place finish at the Fordham Fiasco (five mile run) on Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Van Cortlandt Park. With the first place finish, the Midshipmen have now won four of the seven times (2002, 2006, 2008 and 2013) that they have competed in this meet at Van Cortlandt Park.
"The team did exactly what we were suppose to do," said head coach Al Cantello. "It was a recon effort because we will be coming up in two weeks with the likes of Alabama, Indiana, Army, Brown, Harvard, Yale and Cincinnati. This was basically a scrimmage to see how we are going to fare in two weeks when it really counts."
Navy sophomore Steve Schroeder grabbed his first career individual title with a finishing time of 25:55.51. Following a Rider runner, the Mids placed the next three runners, John Sweeney (26:17.58), Sean Rynning (26:17.88) and Zach Hebda (26:18.15) to round out the top five.
As a team, the Midshipmen finished first in the Division One group with 21 points and a total time of 2:11:13.21. Rider was the next closest to Navy with 55 points, two runners in the top 10 and a team time of 2:13:07.62. Fordham, Fairfield, Monmouth, Rutgers and Hartford rounded out places three through seven, in that order.
Navy returns home for its lone home meet of the season, the Navy Invitational, on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. The Mids will host a group of schools that include in-state opponents Georgetown and Loyola (Md.).
