The Fordham Cross Country season is in full swing. After a season-opening performance at the Stony Brook Season Opener that saw the women’s team finish first and the men finish second, the Rams moved on to last weekend’s Fordham Fiasco, the first home meet of the season at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. There, both the men’s and women’s teams placed fifth.

Starting on the men’s side, the team’s individual leader was senior Patrick Donohue, who placed 14th in the 8k run with a time of 27 minutes and 27.49 seconds. Right behind Donohue with an impressive performance was freshman Ryan Fahey, who — competing in his first career meet, no less — logged a time of 27:40.44 to finish 16th. Other competitors on the men’s side included junior Dylan Serino (27th-27:49.36), junior Patrick Norako (36th-28:03.38), sophomore Patrick Tuohy (48th-28:22.85), senior Matt Roma (54th-28:44.84), junior William Whelan (65th-29:15.15) and sophomore Jack O’Connell (66th-29:28.10).

Moving over to the women’s team, its performance was highlighted by consistency over the weekend. 

Sophomore Bridget Alex led the way with a 31st-place finish and a time of 20:23.42, but eight other Rams — juniors Dana Beggins (20:39.33), Bridget White (20:51.36), Maeve O’Connor (21:11.19) and Julia Herms (21:35.07), along with freshmen Mary Kathryn Underwood (22:17.13), Jilli Jones (22:20.63), Nathania Tan (23:35.72) and sophomore Angelica Piccini (22:34.77) — all finished in the top 70. Sophomore Helen Connolly just missed that top 70 with a 71st-place time of 23:54.57. All nine of Fordham’s women’s competitors finished within three minutes and 31 seconds of each other. This steadiness allowed the Rams to finish in the top five despite lacking a top-30 individual finisher. 

“Saturday’s race was particularly important in regards to getting the team comfortable with the course at Van Courtlandt Park,” Alex said. “We’ll be racing there a lot this season and we expect to improve upon our performance each time.”

Last weekend’s match was one of two that will be held in the Bronx this month; the other, Iona University’s Paddy Doyle Invitational, will also be held at Van Cortlandt Park. As for the next event, the Rams will travel to Old Westbury, N.Y. to compete in the NYIT Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. Head coach Brian Horowitz’s team will look to build upon the consistency of this weekend, which highlighted the team’s depth, overall talent and, perhaps most impressively, its consistency.

According to Alex, the team is ready to build this success.

“Saturday’s race was a learning experience, and I will definitely be using that to feel more familiar with the course and run well in the future,” she said. “I’m confident that my teammates have similar mentalities.”