This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in December 2019.
On Saturday, Nov. 23, Fordham’s Cross Country teams competed in the ECAC/IC4A Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., while their best runner, senior Ryan Kutch, participated in the NCAA Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind.
For his second straight individual competition, Kutch was forced to deal with inclement weather in the midwest. The area was struck with 35-degree temperatures and driving rain on the day of the event, but Kutch and his competitors pushed through those conditions throughout the day. Kutch ultimately finished 241st in the event to cap off an extraordinary four-year cross country career for the Rams. Despite the rain and generally miserable conditions, he did so in 34:48.2.
Moving over to the team, it competed in the ECAC/IC4A Championships at nearly the same time as Kutch’s race. The day began with the coaches’ races for both teams, and Fordham sent several competitors to the men’s competition. Junior William Whelan pulled out a victory in the race with a time of 26:40. Other Fordham finishers included junior Patrick Norako (ninth – 27:14), sophomore Patrick Tuohy (22nd – 27:41) and junior Dylan Serino (41st – 28:38). The Rams did not field any competitors in the women’s race.
The next event was a team competition in the women’s ECAC Championship race. In the event, Fordham finished seventh out of 18 teams in the field, just two points behind George Mason for sixth place. Fordham’s top finisher was freshman Alexandra Thomas, who crossed the finish line with a 13th-place finish of 18:38. Senior Sydney Snow was right behind Thomas with a time of 18:59. Other Fordham competitors included freshman Taylor Mascetta (57th – 19:33), sophomore Bridget Alex (58th – 19:34), senior Kataryna Krzyzanowski (63rd – 19:41), juniors Julia Herms (116th – 21:03), Maeve O’Connor (123rd – 21:14), Bridget White (125th – 21:20) and freshman Bridget Tan (144th – 23:57). Providence College won the team title and fielded each of the top three finishers.
The day’s final event was the men’s IC4A Championship, which had a total of 16 teams competing for a championship. The men’s team fared similarly to the women’s, finishing in sixth place out of 16 teams. Without Kutch, the Rams competed admirably, and senior Nicholas Raefski led the team with a 21st-place finish and a time of 25:54. Sophomore Brandon Hall finished right behind him with a 28th-place time of 26:03 and freshman John McGovern ran the course in 26:07.4, good for 32nd. Fordham’s other finishers were freshman Colin Flood (41st – 26:19), junior Christopher Strzelinski (56th – 26:38), freshmen Jack Craven (94th – 27:34) and Ryan Fahey (109th – 27:51).
Now, the Fordham program will transition into preparing for the indoor track season, which begins this Friday in the Fordham Season Opener at the Lombardi Fieldhouse. Fordham’s cross country season was noteworthy and impressive, and the Rams will look to carry that same success into the winter.