UTICA, NY - Utica University's men's cross country team is set to begin its postseason on Saturday, November 1st, when the team competes in the Empire 8 Championship. St. John Fisher University will host the event in Rochester, NY, with action scheduled to begin at 10:00 am.
Follow Along: Live results for the race can be found
HERE, with a video stream of the finish line available
HERE.
Tune-Up Recap: At last weekend's Hamilton College Tune-Up Invitational,
Bennett Melita (Johnstown, NY/Fonda-Fultonville) placed first among all runners, with Utica placing second in the team scoring. Melita finished the five-kilometer course after 15:03.1, exactly 25 seconds ahead of the 2nd overall runner, and 39.1 seconds ahead of 3rd place. Despite Melita leading the way, only one other Pioneer finished top-15, with
Tobias Jeralds (Canaan, NY/Chatham) placing 13th with a 16:09.9 finish time. The 21st-24th overall runners all wore orange and blue as well, with
Anthony Leotta (Dix Hills, NY/Half Hollow Hills West),
Killian Bauer (Verona, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherill),
Timothy Jeralds (Canaan, NY/Chatham Central), and Zachary Brown all finishing between 16:28.9 and 16:46.9.
Regular Season Trends: Over the course of the regular season, several trends appeared. First, the team was often highlighted by the excellence of Melita, with
Tobias Jeralds (Canaan, NY/Chatham) often close behind. Melita was the fastest Pioneer in all six events he raced in, including two individual wins and the breaking of a course record. The older Jeralds brother was the second Pioneer to cross the finish line in five of his six events, finishing 3rd among Utica in his one other time.
Joseph Santiago (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) was the only other runner to lead the Pioneers in an event this season, with Leotta and
Ben Bellinger (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) accounting for the two times someone other than Jeralds finished 2nd.
One area that has improved lately is the team's "1-5 split". The 1-5 split refers to the time difference between the 1st and 5th finishers for a team. Utica's best split came in the Hamilton Short Course Invitational, when Melita's 15:28.3 and Bauer's 16:32.9 bracketed the Pioneer's team scoring within a window of 1:04.6. Utica has tightened and strengthened this metric across some of their last four races. With the exception the Hamilton Invitational, in which 11 of Utica's 16 runners did not compete, including each of the top six average mile pacers, the Pioneer's 1-5 split for each of their recent events has ranged between 1:35-1:40. The splits of 1:35 at the Paul Short Run, 1:37 at the Rowan Border Battle, and 1:40 at the Hamilton Tune-Up ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best this season.
Up Next: Utica's athletes will need to qualify in order to compete beyond this weekend, as the next scheduled event would be the NCAA Regional Event on November 15th. If one or more Pioneers can earn the opportunity, the event will begin at 10:00 am and be hosted again in Rochester, NY, this time by the University of Rochester.
