ITHACA, N.Y. – Cortland finished in second place out of three schools at the Cornell University Big Red Opener men's cross country meet. The Division I host won the team title with a score of 16 points, followed by Cortland with 49 and Ithaca with 59.
Cortland placed eight finishers in the top half of the 35-runner field on the 5,000-meter Moakley Course.
Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West) was the Red Dragons' top runner in seventh place in 16 minutes, 46.3 seconds. Cornell's Ibrahim Ford won the race in 16:00.2.
Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) and
Landon Fracasse (New Paltz) joined Rautenstrauch in the top 10. Smaldone crossed the finish line ninth in 16:51.4, while Fracasse was 10th in 16:57.7.
Jon Slick (Beekmantown) turned in an 11th-place time of 17:04.6, with
Carter Naginey (Groton) next to the line in 12th place at 17:06.8.
Declan Butler (Yonkers/Archbishop Stepinac) and
Daniel Dunn (Oswego) finished basically side-by-side - Butler was officially 14th in 17:13.3 and Dunn was 15th in 17:13.4.
Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) finished 17th in 17:23.7.
Cortland returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 19, at the University of Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational.
Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Chad Dunham:
Another pleasant Friday evening meet for us - we're certainly happy with the nice weather and pleasant location provided to us by Cornell. They always run a good meet, and we're happy to spend time competing with our locals!
This weekend was a continued endeavor in pack running, where we had a few folks acting as Pacers to help pull others along. As the new folks get used to college training/competing, this low-key environment is helpful in the process! We saw plenty of folks commit to working well and moving as a group, which is always an incredibly pleasant sight! Today even included a few folks' first ever XC race, so that's also a fun sight!
The races will get longer (mostly) from here, and the team is still working hard. We're confident that the way they're operating will bring us another fun end to the Fall as we rise to meet those challenges!
