Sept. 10, 2005
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - The "definition of perfection" . That's what Jon Marcus called it, and head coach Willy Wood found no reason to argue.
"We wanted both our men's and women's teams to run together, and they did exactly what we wanted," Wood said. "From my point of view, it was perfect."
Running in the trademark "pack" style, Columbia put its six women's runners across the finish line third through eight of the 5000-meter Binghamton Invitational women's race, and the seven Lion men were 10th through 16 in the Binghamton men's race.
The women's pack running enabled them to take the meet title with 25 points to 62 for Syracuse and 98 for the host Binghamton Bearcats. The Columbia men finished second, their 60 points ahead of New Hampshire, UMBC, and Syracuse, but nine points behind the University of Maine's 51.
Sophomore Stephanie Lenihan (CC-Yakima, Wash.) led the women with a third place. She was followed by senior Caroline Bierbaum (CC-New York, N.Y.), sophomore Carmen Ballard (CC-Kelowna, B.C.), senior Hilary Bontz (CC-Fort Collins, Colo.), senior Tenke Zoltani (CC-Lutherville, Md.), and junior Laura Meyers (CC-Pasadena, Calif.). Since the timing system didn't compute tenths of a second, all six were timed in 18:56.
"This was definitely a good season opener," Lenihan said. "Everyone ran together, we stayed close to each other all through the race. In fact, we were talking all the time. When you do that, it kind of makes the other teams frustrated." Zoltani agreed. "Every one was very supportive of each other," she said.
Sophomore Greg Hughes (Northfield, N.J.) paced the Columbia men when he finished 10th overall in 26:09 for the 8000-meter layout. He was followed by junior Alan Weeth (Albuquerque, N.Mex.), junior Gus Polito (Valley Center, Calif.), first-year Jeff Randall (Eugene, Ore.), junior Tyler Kastorff (Dana Point, Calif.), junior Mark Olivier (Groton, Conn.), junior Stephane Hetherington (Toronto, Ont.), and junior Brian Horneck (Hermiston, Ore.), all in the same 26:09.
Columbia's other three runners were one second behind in 26:10 -- senior Jon Marcus (Portland, Ore.) and first-years Paul Morris (Lexington, Mass.) and Mason McElroy (Glen Allen, Va.).
Hughes's showing was especially encouraging. He had suffered through the 2004 cross country season with an injury, and then missed the indoor and outdoor track & field campaigns.
"I was just [speaking] with Stephane Hetherington and Tyler Kastorff," Hughes said, referring to two teammates also returning from injuries. "We agreed that all that work, all that extra training we did to come back, was worth it."
"You question yourself at first," Hughes continued, "when you're on crutches and you have stitches in your legs. `Am I still going to be as fast as I was in high school? Am I going to come back all the way?'"
He took it one step at a time, Hughes said. "You get back on track, and you build on it every day."
Columbia will next run on Friday, September 23, in the Qunnipiac Invitational in Hamden, Conn.
The results (full results at www.finishrightcom):
BINGHAMTON INVITATIONAL
Women's Race - 5000 meters
COLUMBIA 25, Syracuse 62, Binghamton 98, Albany 110, Colgate and Maine 118, Maryland-Baltimore County 179, Siena 228
1. Katie Radzik, Binghamton, 18:21;
2. Elizabeth Cufari, Syracuse, 18:38;
3. Stephanie Lenihan, Columbia, 18:56;
4. Caroline Bierbaum, Columbia, 18:56;
5. Carmen Ballard, Columbia, 18:56;
6. Hilary Bontz, Columbia, 18:56;
7. Tenke Zoltani, Columbia, 18:56;
8. Laura Meyers, Columbia, 18:56;
9. Heather Jovanelli, Maine, 18:58;
10. Alyssa Lotmore, Albany, 19:04
75 finishers
Men's Race - 8000 meters
Maine 51, COLUMBIA 60, New Hampshire 79, Maryland-Baltimore County 110, Syracuse 115, Albany 123, Binghamton 189, Siena 220
1. Donald Drake, Maine, 25:29;
10. Greg Hughes, Columbia, 26:09;
11. Alan Weeth, Columbia, 26:09;
12. Gus Polito, Columbia, 26:09;
13. Jeff Randall, Columbia, 26:09;
14. Tyler Kastorff, Columbia, 26:09;
15. Mark Olivier, Columbia, 26:09;
16. Stephane Hetherington, Columbia, 26:09;
17. Brian Horneck, Columbia, 26:09;
18. Jon Marcus, Columbia, 26:10;
19. Paul Morris, Columbia, 26:10;
20. Mason McElroy, Columbia, 26:10
88 finishers
