By Alex Kurtz
Sports editor
Susquehanna’s men’s and women’s cross country teams started their season strong at the Bison Open in Lewisburg on Saturday, Sept. 1.
The Bison Open had ten schools in Lewisburg for the competition including American University, Bucknell, Juniata, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (Md.), Lycoming, Navy, Penn and Susquehanna.
“A lot of Divison I schools came to this meet. Coming from a Division III athlete’s perspective, it felt great to compete with those runners,” senior Ciaran Fisher said. “It was definitely an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Junior Erin Reese crossed the finish line ahead of all other DIII runners at the event with the time of 14:58.6. The time was only four seconds off of her personal record.
“Preparation for the first meet was getting in miles, workouts, hill sprints, weight training and cross training,” Reese said. “My goals for this year are to win landmark championships and individually qualify for nationals.”
Sophomore Marissa Kleeman finished second for the River Hawks and fifth out of all DIII runners at the event with a time of 16:16.
Following Keeman was junior Alexa Pietrini, who finished with a time of 16:55.
Juniors Katherine Mayer and Emily Eck crossed the line afterwards to finish the top five for Susquehanna.
For the men’s side, senior Ciaran Fisher finished second among DIII runners with a time of 19:51.5 in his first career 6K race.
“Getting back into running at the collegiate level I definitely had to get the kinks out,” Fisher said. “I felt a little rusty but I’m ready to get back into the swing of things.”
First-year runners Jack Warehime and Max Oswaldp laced ahead of all other DIII freshman at the meet in 90th and 106th position. Warehime finished with a time of 20:54:1.
Sophomore Jake Menchy and junior Robert Masters finished the top five placements for Susquehanna.
Masters narrowly beat out sophomore teammate Leonard Bolinsky by a half-second.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, Sept. 8 when they travel to Lebanon Valley College to compete in the Dutchman Invitational.
This is the first time that Susquehanna will compete at this invitational.
The race will be the 46th time Lebanon Valley College has hosted the event. The meet will play host to 18 colleges and 17 high schools. In total, around 740 student athletes will run at the invitational.
The Dutchman are riding high into the event after securing a men’s team victory and a women’s runner-up at the Misericordia Invitational on Aug. 31.
