The NYU men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Williams Purple Valley Classic in Williamstown, Mass., this weekend.
The men’s cross country team, who placed first in their previous two meets, is currently ranked no. 19 in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III Top 35 Poll. The Violets competed on an 8K course and finished third with a total of 85 points. Host Williams College came in first with 39 points, and Middlebury College had 72 points for a second place finish.
Senior captains Dylan Karten and Kevin Bonilla finished seconds behind each other in the top 15, with Karten coming in 10th with a time of 26:38 and Bonilla in 11th with 26:40.
“This weekend we saw some strong performances from our younger guys in the JV race,” Karten said. “In the varsity race, sophomore Sebastian Oja ran very well, moving up to run with the leaders at the end of the race.”
NYU’s top finisher, sophomore Sebastian Oja, finished fifth with a time of 26:22, only nine seconds behind the first-place finisher Ben Wallis of Tufts University. Oja has finished in the top five in every race this season and is already anticipating the Metro Championships.
“This was our first meet with some very competitive teams, so it was a good test to see where we are,” Oja said. “We continue to train hard and are looking forward to having a good showing at Mets in two weeks.”
Other NYU top finishers were senior captain Dave Knowles in 31st and junior Ross Wistar in 33rd.
“If we can increase our depth up front, we will be a very competitive team come championship season,” Karten said. “Right now we’re still training at a high volume and will see the results of our work in a few weeks.”
The NYU women’s cross country team competed on a 6K course at the Williams Classic and finished seventh out of 15 teams.
Seniors Kirsten Keller and Georgina Norton returned to competition after not running in last week’s tournament. The Violets’ top finisher was Keller, who had a time of 22:58 and came in 13th out of 215 runners. Norton, who was recovering from the flu last week, finished with in 24:15 for 66th place.
Freshmen Eloisa Cusi and Louisa Warwick both placed in the top 30, with Cusi finished 23:15 for 22nd and Warwick in 23:23 for 28th.
“I’m very used to running the 5K, so I was really nervous about how my race would play out,” Cusi said. “I just had to have faith in my training. I’m quite content with my result.”
Middlebury College came in third overall with 87 points, while host Williams finished first with 78 points and MIT came in second with 83 points.
NYU will compete at the Metro Championships in Van Cortland Park, in Riverdale, NY, on Oct. 5.
A version of this article appeared in the Sept. 24 print edition. Mary Jane Dumankaya is a deputy sports editor. Email her at [email protected].