The University of Rhode Island men’s cross country team made the 243.3-mile drive to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to compete in the Paul Short Invitational hosted by Lehigh University on Friday.
This was the first event outside of the New England region for the Rams this season. This was also the first time the Rams competed in a field of teams larger than six, as 40 teams participated in the meet.
“We’ve never really been in a huge meet like this, at least in my time here,” URI Assistant Coach Brian Doyle said. “The size of the field was really important for getting our guys ready [for the championship season] because when the field is really big, you have to go a little bit harder.”
Third-year distance runner Garrett Hartline led the Rams with a time of 23:56.2 in 8,200-meter, good enough for 36th place out of 1,382 runners. This was the first time that Hartline ran the 8,200 this season after competing in the 6,000-meter on Sept. 5 in the Friar Invitational.
“I knew the longer distance would be beneficial to me,” Hartline said. “The [Friar Invitational] we had earlier in the season was just to get my legs moving, but once we started getting into the eight-kilometer and 10-kilometer [races], I thought that would play to my advantage.”
Fellow third-year runner Nick Martin finished two seconds behind Hartline with a time of 23:58.9, good enough for 43rd place.
Second-year Matt Lucas set a personal best with a time of 24:49.4. Lucas passed more than 50 runners following the first mile split on his way to the new personal best. Fellow second-years Jason Padula and Jeremy Roe both also got personal bests, with times of 25:13.4 and 25:14.1, respectively. Those times were the last to earn points for the Rams, as they finished 20th out of the 40 teams competing.
Though the Rams didn’t earn any points for their performances, first-year Ryan Kaiser and third-year Brayton Gazerro placed 302nd and 613th, respectively. Kaiser set a new personal best along with Lucas, Padula and Roe with a time of 25:19.6. Gazerro finished with a time of 26:20.0.
Doyle mentioned the importance of team bonding during these long road trips, especially for the young guys like Kaiser, Lucas, Padula and Roe, who are still getting acclimated to being student-athletes.
“[Hartline] and [Martin] have really met and exceeded expectations when it comes to being leaders and showing the way for the young guys,” Doyle said. “Those [young] guys just go into races nowadays with no fear.”
Now the Rams start their stretch of three straight championships with the New England Championship on Friday. After that, the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship will take place on Nov. 1 and then the NCAA Regional Championship on Nov. 14. Both the New England Championship and the NCAA Regional Championship will be held on the Hopkinton Fair Grounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.
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