Boston, MA - The Fisher Men's Cross Country team competed in their first ever race on Tuesday afternoon, defeating the Pine Manor College Gators, 27-41. In what was a blistery afternoon on the Charles River, both teams competed well, with 13 of 16 runners finishing the 3.15K course. "Every runner from both teams should be given a ton of credit for running this race in those really tough conditions. The race had a bit of everything-cold-rain-snow-wind but all the runners gutted it out and ran strong," said first-year Coach Warren MacPhail.
Freshman Danny Morel (Yonkers, NY) took first place, finishing with a time of 19:12, a full minute ahead of the second place finisher, Reynaldo Vega (Aguada, PR). "Danny came into the season with limited cross country experience, having been a stand out football player at Riverside High School in Yonkers, but has worked his way into being a really strong runner," said Coach MacPhail. Third place went to Pine Manor's Owen Phelps who came in just behind Vega with a time of 20:20. Rounding out the top five were two-sport athletes, Janiel Laracuente and Angel Rivera, both baseball players from Caguas, PR. The only women's runner, senior Hajar El Khalfaoui (Malden, MA) finished the race with a time of 22:31.
It was a great start to the cross country program as Coach MacPhail continues to build his teams for the future. "It was a memorable way to get Fisher College's first cross country victory," said MacPhail. "The runners overcame the conditions and you can't top that. The victory makes it even better."
Race Times
- Fisher - Danny Morel - 19:12
- Fisher - Reynaldo Vega - 20:12
- Pine Manor - Owen Phelps - 20:20
- Fisher - Janiel Laracuente - 20:39
- Fisher - Angel Rivera - 20:43
- Pine Manor - Wyatt Kerker - 21:00
- Pine Manor - Saul Aquelo - 21:14
- Pine Manor - Jon Musgrove - 21:23
- Pine Manor - Isiah Tucker - 21:43
- Fisher - Brian Montanez - 21:55
- Fisher - Trevor Mehlhoff - 22:00
- Fisher - Jordan Garcia - 22:12
- Fisher (W) - Hajar El Khalfaoui - 22:31
DNF - Cole Barton
DNF - Daniel Perez
DNF - Zach Anderson