No. 20 women’s and No. 28 men’s NYU cross country teams placed sixth and 14th respectively at the Connecticut College Invitational in New London, Connecticut, on Saturday, Oct. 15. 

As NYU runners approach the finish line of their season, NYU cross country head coach Tyler Deck Shipley expressed particular excitement, saying it was the “last race before the postseason” and “one for the bigger D3 races in the country.” The invitational featured multiple highly-ranked teams including No.6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and No.8 Amherst College.

“The women’s team has shown the biggest improvement this year, and that has been through the big improvements of Viv Kane, Janie Cooper and Katie Cheng,” Shipley said.

The women’s cross country team amassed a total of 160 points, placed 6th and ran an average of 22:49 in the 6K. Led by first-year runner Viv Kane and senior runner Grace Richardson, who finished first with a time of 21:18 and seventh with a time of 21:54, respectively. 

Not only did Kane win the race, but her head-splitting pace bested the 2nd place runner by 15 seconds and came within two seconds of the unofficial all-time school record — which she set in her previous race at Lehigh University’s Paul Short Run on Sept. 30. 

The other scorers for the women’s team included first-year runner Janie Cooper who finished 34th with a time of 22:37, first-year runner Daniel Sekhar who placed 61st with a time of 23:07, and senior runner Leah Haley who clocked a 23:11 for 67th. 

The future of NYU women’s running looks brighter than ever as the majority of the scoring runners were first-years, which none of the other five teams finished above them accomplished. 

Looking to bounce back from a difficult race at Lehigh University, the NYU men’s cross country team totaled 335 points, placed 14th and ran an average of 25:46 in the 8K. In a feat of depth, the men’s team was one of seven teams to have its top five runners all finish within the top 100, and one of the only teams to have their scoring runners finish within less than 40 seconds between each other. 

For the NYU men’s team, the first two runners to the line were junior runner Nicholas Ankuta and sophomore runner Ryan Tobin, who respectively finished 46th with a time of 25:23 and 62nd with a time of 25:35. Ankuta improved upon his most recent race time at Leigh and personal record by nearly a full half minute.

Following Ankuta and Tobin the scorers were senior runner Mubeen Zainul who placed 79th and ran a time of 25:50, first-year runner Shaurya Srivastava who ended 88th with a time of 25:56, and first-year runner Jeffrey Chen who Shipley said “looked very good in practice,” wrapped up the scorers with 96th place and a time of 26:03.

With a successful invitational in New London this Saturday, both teams look to carry their momentum in the postseason, which kicks off Oct. 29 in the University Athletic Association Championship at Emory University in Hampton, Georgia.

Contact Ethan Rendon at [email protected].