RESULTS

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - On Friday, October 3 the Ithaca College men's cross country team traveled to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to compete against some of the best programs in Division III cross country. The South Hill squad battled challenging temperatures and a difficult course en route to a 29th place finish in the Men's White race, with a key team victory over Hamilton College who was ranked one spot ahead of the Bombers in the week 3 USTFCCCA Niagara Regional Rankings.

For the Bombers, today was not about personal bests, rather competing hard within the race. With not a cloud in the sky and temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit when the starting gun went off at 12:30, the Bombers took things out tactically. With sophomore Renne Cooper of MIT leading the 422 person field out in a 4:47 first mile, the Bombers held back with not a single runner breaking the five minute barrier or running in the top 150.

The Bombers began to move up in the middle miles of the race. Junior Toag Wolf continued their strong start to the season. They ran another personal best of 25:51 for the 8k and moved up 73 positions from one mile to 5k. Following Wolf was senior Ben Buffone who also demonstrated great patience, moving up 47 positions throughout the race, most notably an impressive 33 spots from the 5k to 6.3K split. Buffone clocked a season best time of 26:02 and will be looking for a lifetime best on a cooler day. 

Junior Elliott Painting tied his personal best running 26:30, moving up 12 spots throughout the race. First-year Felix Farrugia continued to put the Liberty League on notice with his performance today. Despite running eight seconds shy of his personal best from the YellowJacket XC Invitational, he moved up 73 spots from one mile to 5k on his way to a solid 26:44 in the tough conditions. 

The Bombers scorers were rounded out by sophomore Colin Lesher who ran a four second season best of 27:01. Lesher moved up 21 spots throughout the race and continues to look sharper each week after dealing with a hip injury over the summer. 

New York University dominated this race as a whole. The 13th ranked team in the country scored an impressive 54 points, placing four runners in the top 15 and six in the top 25. The individual winner was junior Will Shuflit of Colorado College who gapped the field with a 14 second victory and a time of 24:04.9.

The Bombers who raced today will get next weekend off to focus on training and recovery while the remainder of the squad will travel to Houghton to compete in the Houghton Highlander Invitational next Saturday, October 11.