October 8, 2022

The Basics

• The lead: Junior Rachel Pinho continued her impressive third season on Castle Point, finishing 21st to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's cross country team Saturday at the DeSales University Invitational. 
• Location: DeSales University Cross Country Course - Center Valley, Pa.
• Short Story: Using a 6:30 mile pace, Pinho completed the six-kilometer course in a season-best time of 24:14.1 to lead Stevens' seven-runner contingent, finishing 21st out of 203 runners. The Bridgewater, New Jersey native missed out on a new personal best by just 1.6 seconds. As a team, the Ducks finished ninth out of the 19 competing teams, totaling 261 points. Kutztown won the team title, with the Bears claiming two of the top-three finishers to total 52 points. Swarthmore was the top Division III finisher, totaling 82 points. Kutztown's average completion time was 23:37, while Swarthmore's average competition time was 23:59. On the individual side, Kutztown's Colleen Gilbert used a 6:07.5 mile pace to finish the course in 22:50.2 to win the race. Ursinus' Rachel Conhoff finished second as the top DIII finisher, completing the course in 22:53.7.
• Of note: The race was a preview event for November's Metro Region Championship, which will also be hosted by DeSales.

Top Finishers

• Stevens' top-five finishers were spread by 1:49.9 seconds and the top seven finishers were separated by 4:06.5 in the second 6k race of the season.
• The Ducks averaged 25:33 to complete the course, which was 11 seconds faster than the team that finished directly ahead of them in the standings. 
• Competing in her first 6k of the season, junior Jacquline Lulaj was the Ducks' second finisher, using a 6:52.3 mile pace to finish the course in 25:37.3.
• Junior Fionna Feerick posted a season-best time of 25:52.6 as the Ducks' third finisher, with first-year Taylor Enes (25.57.5) and sophomore Samantha Rozek (26:04) rounding out the Ducks' top-five. The time for both Enes and Rozek set new personal bests.
• Graduate student Caroline Corr used a seven-minute mile pace to complete the course in 26:06, finishing just behind Rozek to mark the second-fastest 6k time of her career.
• First-year Christina Alexandrov (28:20.6) finished her first career race to round out the Ducks' contingent.

From the Course - Head Coach John Kolibab

• "With two meets to go before our conference championship, we were looking for our group to really show off all of the hard work they've put in from the summer and during the season. We absolutely accomplished our goal this weekend, with a myriad of PR's and some fantastic performances. This is the part of the season where you really need to perform well and I'm excited to see the progress we've made, even on a tough course."
• "Our women took a huge step in the right direction this week, performing at a much higher level than at any point this season. Rachel Pinho had an outrageous day, running within two seconds of her lifetime best on a very tough course. Sam Rozek and Taylor Enes were two of our other standouts, both running their personal bests over six kilometers. I was very happy with how all seven of our women executed today, which is huge going into an attackable course next weekend at Connecticut College."

Up Next

• Women's cross country returns to the course on Oct. 15 for the Connecticut College Invitational. The Ducks will be competing in the event for the first time since 2018. 
• The race will serve as the regular season finale.

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