Both the Fordham men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at this weekend’s NYIT Invitational, hosted by the New York Institute of Technology, in Old Westbury, N.Y. The men’s team raked in a second-place finish, trailing only Seton Hall, while the women finished fourth behind Seton Hall, St. Thomas Aquinas and USMMA.

On the men’s side, the team was led by junior William Whelan, who finished seventh in the 8K race with a time of 23:34.26. Fordham finished in each position seventh through tenth, as three of Whelan’s teammates — freshman Ryan Fahey (23:52.48), junior Patrick Norako (23:52.78) and junior Dylan Serino (23:56.72) — rounded out the top 10. Also competing for the Rams was sophomore Patrick Tuohy, who finished the race in a time of 24:17.75, good for 17th place in the event.

“As a runner for over seven years, it always feels great when your summer training starts to pay off,” Whelan says. “I knew going into the NYIT Invitational I was one of the fastest runners, and I could score low for Fordham. Placing seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth is a great sign, but the competitiveness in me thinks we could have been lower.”

Moving over to the women’s team, sophomore Bridget Alex had her second straight solid performance, crossing the finish line before of any other female Ram in 20:09.85. Junior Bridget White placed 19th in 21:29.06 while sophomores Jill Jones and Angelica Piccini finished 27th and 28th, respectively, with times of just over 22 minutes. Junior Julia Herms also placed for Fordham, crossing the finish line in a time of 22:18.65.

This was the second event of the regular season for the Rams, after last week’s Fordham Fiasco, in which both the men’s and women’s teams came in fifth place. Fordham will have a return home of sorts this coming week, as the Rams will compete in the Paddy Doyle Invitational this coming Friday; however, Fordham will not be hosting. Instead, Iona College will be hosting the event, even though it will be held here in the Bronx, at Van Cortlandt Park.

“We are a strong group of athletes, and starting this cross-country season, we have been holding each other more accountable for small things like stretching, core and other important priorities that may be overlooked,” Whelan says. “With that being said, running more tight as a pack during workouts may give us very similar feel to when it comes time to race, and when the time comes to race, we will used to seeing, pacing and running next to each other, whether ahead or behind, and start to pick off other runners.”

Fordham will look forward to doing that this Friday.