The Atlantic 10 Championships were held this past Saturday in Mechanicsville, Va., where the Fordham cross country team ran against the likes of La Salle, Saint Joseph’s and George Mason. The conference championship featured strong times from all around the A-10 and the men and women of Fordham were no exception. While junior Jonathan Annelli and senior Anisa Arsenault led both sides, the teams as a whole gave one of their best performances yet.
The men’s team finished sixth out of 15 teams at the A-10s. Annelli, the Ram’s top runner, came in seventh overall with a time of 24:10, a Personal Record (PR) for Annelli. Placing seventh gave Annelli a spot on the 15-man All Conference Team as well. La Salle was the winning team and placed no less than five runners in the top 15, easily giving the La Salle men their eighth championship victory in 12 years.
Sophomore Mike Turi recorded his best career time of 24:46, shaving 14 seconds off his time of 25:00 at Princeton. Turi placed 26th overall and second for the Rams and senior Brian Walter came in two seconds later with a time of 24:48, taking in 28th overall. Freshman Adam Schwenzfeier was the sole rookie who ran and came in almost a minute later with a time of 25:47, a personal best as well. Overall, the men’s team was able to shave off 10 minutes from its overall time for 2012. The improvement during the season is noticeable, too, and the men look to be in great shape as they head into the NCAA District Regionals on Nov. 15.
For the women, Arsenault had a fantastic run, breaking the 18 minute benchmark with a 17:58, good for 23rd place. And though the women placed ninth out of the 12 teams who ran, the team as a whole had their best race of the season.
“That was actually our best competition ever. It’s too bad that our place doesn’t reflect that.” Arsenault said. “We had five girls under 19 minutes and I cracked 18; nothing like that has ever happened with the Fordham women’s team before.”
As co-captain with senior Christina Vivinetto, who came in 36th place with an 18:12, Arsenault credited the whole team in stepping up to serve up their best performance yet.
“There were big PR’s all around; it’s so great to see things like that happen at a championship meet,” Arsenault said.
In the top five besides Arsenault and Vivinetto were junior Sarah Glockenmeier, freshman Brianne Roche and senior Kerry Sorenson. Glockenmeier ran the five kilometer course in 18:36, with Roche just four seconds behind at 18:40 and Sorenson at 18:56.
While the conference championship is over, the next major races are looking to be bright for the ladies, who have been running harder than ever. “Focusing and paying attention to what’s going on with other teams in the race allows you to remain competitive.” Arsenault said. “And the ladies really did that.”
