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Rakoc wins NYSCTC Title, Saint men's cross country team finishes 2nd

Posted 10/20/12

One St. Lawrence University men's cross country streak was snapped, but another stayed alive on Saturday at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Cross Country Championships at Center Park …

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Rakoc wins NYSCTC Title, Saint men's cross country team finishes 2nd

Posted

One St. Lawrence University men's cross country streak was snapped, but another stayed alive on Saturday at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Cross Country Championships at Center Park in Fairport.

Senior Sam Rakoc became the fourth straight Saint to capture the individual championship as he led a field of 143 runners, but the Saint string of three straight team titles came to an end in a tight team battle with the University of Rochester.

Rochester placed three runners in the top ten to finish with 48 points, edging the second place Saints, who finished with 52 points in the 12-team field. Ithaca with 82 and RPI with 88 rounded out the top four in the event.

Rakoc ran the 8 kilometer course in 25:44.6, finishing over 10 seconds in front of Utica's Morgan Payne. It was Rakoc's first win of the season, although he has been the Saint top finisher in every race he has run this year. Freshman Spencer Patterson was the other Saint runner in the top ten, finishing sixth in 26:10.63.

Brendan Courneene was the third Saint scorer, finishing 12th in 26:21.63 with Trevor Bibb 15th in 26:28.04 and Philip Marshall completing the Saint scoring with an 18th place finish in 26:32.54. Scott Smolensky was the sixth Saint finisher in 25:43.72, 23rd overall, while Zach Nelson completed SLU's top seven with a 33rd place finish.

Other finishers for the Saints included Harrison Sloan, who was 37th in 27:05.55, Wesley Kirui, 38th in 27:06.18, Landon Elliott-Knaggs, 44th in 27:19.40, Jon Eng, 46th in 27:22.09, Jeff Mogavero, 48th in 27:23.84 and Corey Hahnl, who was 49th in 27:24.96. Jason Hardacre finished 64th in the field with Steve Petramale 69th.

The Saints will be out to continue a long string of Liberty League titles when they compete in the Liberty League Championship at Clarkson on Oct. 27.