University of Arizona
Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational
Women Finish Fourth, Men Fifth at Panorama Farms
09/26/2014 | Cross Country
Earlysville, Va. – The University of Arizona Wildcat men's and women's cross country teams competed in the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational in Earlysville, Va. Friday's meet was split a 6K for the women and an 8,000-meter race for the men. The women's team finished in fourth place overall while the men's squad took fifth place.
“I think we definitely have a mix of some good performances and some disappointments,” head coach James Li said. “Overall the team's performance was a little below what I hoped we would do. It's a very tough course here, probably tougher than anywhere we have run in a good number of years but overall many of the athletes did really well. It was good a first test.”
On the women's side, senior Kristina Aubert continued her outstanding start to the season. She led the team for the third-straight meet, this time taking a second-place finish in the 6K at 20:40.49. The winner had a time of 20:38.99. The second finisher for the Wildcats was senior Stephanie Bulder; she took 17th place with a time of 21:39.68. Senior Clea Formaz's time of 21:46.51 was good for 19th overall. Junior Molly Callahan had a time of 22:08.24, good for 25th place overall. The final scorer for the Wildcats was senior Amanda Russell, who finished in 33rd place with a time of 22:32.33. Also running for the UA women, senior Hanna Peterson (34th; 22:34.43), senior Kate Penney (35th; 22:36.57), junior Daylee Burr (48th; 22:59.10) and freshman Claire Green (63rd; 23:34.01).
The women's team took fourth place with 95 points. Virginia won with 37 points, William and Mary had 74 points in second and Wake Forest's 94 points were good for third place.
“For the women to finish one point behind Wake Forest was difficult,” Li said. “We could've done better. Kristina (Aubert) ran such a great race and Clea did really well. Obviously, Stephanie Bulder is continuing to improve throughout the season. We have a good group but we just need to move the group closer to our front runner."
For the men's team, senior Sam Macaluso, who was fortunate enough to be able to compete in front of his family that made the trip down from New York, led the Wildcats. Macaluso finished in 11th place overall with a time of 24:19.38. The second Wildcat to cross the finish line was freshman Bailey Roth, competing in his first ever collegiate meet, took 19th place with a time 24:36.36. The next Wildcat finisher was senior Kenji Bierig, who's time of 24:47.78 was good for 25th place overall. Sophomore Collins Kibet took 28th place with a time of 24:49.84. The fifth and final scorer for the Wildcats was senior Jonas Legernes, who had a time of 26:02.66 that was good for 71st place. Arizona also ran freshman Patrick Leary (83rd; 26:24.26), sophomore Matthew Beer (86th; 26:28.47), sophomore Brendan Tinoco (95th; 27:01.18), freshman Michael Godbout (99th; 27:09.27) and junior Dylan Hopper (105th; 28:00.28).
“Sam (Macaluso) ran great today,” Li said. “Bailey (Roth), being his first ever 8K, longest race in his life, that was great run by him. I was really proud of him. Kenji (Bierig) is such a different runner this year and he is doing well to help lead the team. Collins (Kibet) got stuck too far back from the beginning of the race and couldn't make up that distance. He could have been much better but I'm sure he will be in the future. This is the first race we really ran a full team. If we could get our fifth and sixth person closer to the front, we can do that but we just have to get it done. We can't talk about it; we have to get it done.”
The UA men tallied 147 points and finished in fifth place overall. Virginia's 47 points were good for first place. Furman had 51 points in second place. Iona took third place with 54 points and Auburn finished in fourth with 138 points.
Next up for the Wildcats is the Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Oct. 17 in Madison, Wisc.
For continued coverage of Arizona cross country, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow @ArizonaTrack on twitter.
