cabrini athletic departmentIt was a rainy Saturday morning when the men’s cross country team captured the 2007 Pennsylvania Athletic Conference championship on Oct. 27 at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park.
Though the women’s team did not place for the finals, the men competed at the PAC championships during difficult conditions and non-stop rain throughout the day.
The Cavaliers had five runners in the top 15 with four ending in the top 10. Cabrini finished with 31 points while six-time defending champion Misericordia University ended in second with 40 points. Gwynedd-Mercy College followed in third place with 67 points.
Freshman Eddie Penetar won an individual title, winning the 8K race in a time of 27:34.47. Junior Justin Walsh finished in fourth with a time of 28:54.34 and freshman Miguel Rodriquiz Amayaran the same event in 29:26.91.
Freshman John Solewin also placed in the top 10 with a time of 30:00.00. Senior Chris Sweeney finished close behind in 30:07.94, placing 11th.
After being picked to finish third in the conference, the championship was a pleasant surprise for the Cavaliers.
“It feels great! I’ve been training four years with that goal in mind, and I’m glad I could end my senior year’s cross country season that way, especially with such a great team. We have such an awesome group of guys, and I’m glad we could all experience this together,” senior accounting major-Spanish minor Chris Sweeney said.
Though Sweeney felt it was one of his worst races ever, suffering a spill with 600 meters to go and nearly passing out, he still feels the team deserved to win the title after all their hard work. “We as a team ended up winning. We have a great group of guys who gave it nothing but there all this past weekend, and I feel we all deserved to win,” Sweeney said in an e-mail.
The Cavaliers will compete in the ECAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Williams College in Massachusetts.
“We have the ECAC meet next Saturday, regionals the following weekend and possibly nationals after that. I’ve just been training a lot and preparing mentally, knowing that winning the championship is never out of reach,” Sweeney said.
