Complete Results
NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT men's and women's cross country teams opened the 2015 season at home by hosting the 12th Annual Technology XC Challenge at Branch Brook Park Saturday.
NJIT junior Blake Brancato completed the 8k course with a season-best time of 25:51.22, placing fourth overall. Junior Zakaria Fouad finished with a time of 26:50.66 while Arthur Smith and Kevin Ratigan finished at 27:02.47 and 27:12.03 respectively.
Senior Timothy Daudelin finished at 27:35.07, followed by Nicholas Ramirez, Liam McSpiritt and Mike Russell.
The winner of the meet was Mike Darnell (Molloy) with a time of 25:14.
Other Highlanders represented in the race were—Carlos Skerrett, Carmelo Gabayeron, Nathaniel Bailey II, Justin Newkirk, and Jay Bober.
In the women's race, Susan Ejore (Monroe) broke the course record with a time of 17:26.4.
Senior Maryam Haque was the top finisher for the Highlander women, finishing the 5k course, with a season-best time of 20:17.08. Junior Kelli Hesse clocked in with a time of 20:49.05, another season-best time for NJIT, while Michelle Ling and Emily Shibata placed seventh and eighth overall, respectively.
Other runners represented on the women's side—Rosa Moss, Trish Roche and Kimberly DeLuca.
"Everyone stepped up their performances cheered on by the home crowd consisting of classmates and alumni that were not deterred by the bad weather," head coach Al Alonso commented after the meet.
NJIT will return to action at the Princeton Invitational on October 17 at 11am.
