NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University men's cross country team made it two for two on the 2013 season, beating all the NCAA Division 2 & 3 teams at the University of Delaware Cross Country Invitational, falling only to Princeton overall. The women placed eighth among Division 2 & 3 teams run at the White Clay Creek State Park on Saturday morning.
The men came off a victory at their own WUXC Invite last week, claiming 29 total points finishing in second place behind only Princeton's 15 points.
Junior Richie Mitten led all the Wildcats finishing second in the Division 2 & 3 race, 13th overall in a course personal best of 26:42.74. Sophomore Jesus Amezquita ran right behind Mitten, placing right behind him in third among all Division 2 & 3 runner and 14th overall in 26:46.16.
The Wildcats all finished in the top 10 of the Division 2 & 3 teams as Tyler Muse placed sixth in 27:26.16, freshman Ken Fontal finished eighth in 27:28.38, and Nathan Parmenter placed 10th in 27:44.26 to round out the Wilmington scoring.
Marshall Hawkins finished right outside the top 10, placing 11th among the Division 2 & 3 teams, finishing the 8K in 27:58.35. Matt Mossman, running in his first race of the year, finished 26th in 28:42.66
Wilmington beat out Delaware TC (68 points), Gettysburg (85), Maryland TC (103), and Goldey-Beacom (113) who rounded out the top five teams among the Division 2 & 3 programs.
Tijen Ozcan was the fastest Wilmington runner on the woman's side, placing 25th among the Division 2 & 3 runners, crossing the line in 26:27.05. SaraBeth Oppermann was the second Wildcat runner to finish, coming in 33rd in a time of 26:55.33.Sophomore Morgan Ferrick was the third Wildcat runner to cross the line, coming in 44th overall in a time of 27:49.75
Penelope Fantis gave the Wildcats 54 points as the fourth Wildcat finisher, running the 6K race in 29:12.20. Chelsie Maher rounded out the Wildcat scoring with a 74th place finish, crossing the line at 31:37.90. The five runners gave Wilmington 230 points, eighth fewest on the woman's Division 2 & 3 side.
Gettysburg won the Division 2 & 3 even with 33 points, followed by St. Vincent (91), Delaware TC (91), USciences (127), and Maryland TC (139) to round out the top 5.
Wilmington will shed its typical schedule from the past couple years and head to the UMass Dartmouth Invitational in Dartmouth, Mass. The meet will be run on the campus of UMass Dartmouth, starting with the women at 11:15 a.m.
