Fordham’s men’s and women’s cross country teams took part in the Paddy Doyle Invitational this past week at Van Cortlandt Park right here in the Bronx. The men’s team earned a fifth-place finish while the women finished the event in seventh place out of 16 teams.

Fordham senior and defending Atlantic 10 champion Ryan Kutch made his first appearance of the season and completed the 8K course in a time of just over 25 minutes, which left him just outside the top ten in the event. After Kutch crossed the line, sophomore Brandon Hall followed close behind in a 17th-place time of 25:32.3. Senior Nicholas Raefski also earned a top-30 finish with his 26th-place time of 25:53.7.

Fordham also had five other competitors in the event. In addition to Kutch, Hall and Raefski, other Fordham finishers included freshman John McGovern (33rd–26:01), freshman Colin Flood (41st–26:12.5), senior Sean Sullivan (58th–27:07.0), freshman Jack Craven (27:15.2) and first-year runner Nick Lundberg (79th–27:25.2). The men’s team was able to earn a top-five finish, as the Rams came in behind Iona, Charlotte, Temple and Columbia.

The women’s team had a similar performance on Friday.

The Rams were led by freshman Alexandra Thomas, who had an extremely impressive showing in the 5K race. Thomas was the first Fordham woman to cross the finish line, and she did so in a 16th-place time of 18:32.6. In her first competition since the Stony Brook Season Opener on Aug. 31, senior Sydney Snow crossed the finish line in 19:11.2, which was good for a 42nd-place showing. Fordham was able to get two freshmen in the top 50 on this morning, as Taylor Mascetta joined Thomas in placing 49th with a time of 19:29.4.

There were several other competitors for the Rams on the women’s side. Other scorers included sophomore Bridget Alex (19:35.3), freshmen Sarah Rubenheimer (20:11.1) and juniors Dana Baggins (20:33.4) and Maeve O’Connor (21:49.5).

In the team competition, the Fordham women finished seventh out of 16 teams, finishing behind Columbia, Cornell, La Salle, Johns Hopkins, Temple and Charlotte.

The Paddy Doyle Invitational concluded a stretch of four competitions in four weeks for Fordham Cross Country. The Rams will take next weekend off before resuming their season on Oct. 5 at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa. That tournament will be hosted by Lehigh and will mark the first tournament Fordham competes in outside the tri-state area this season.