The St. Lawrence University Saints Men’s and Women’s cross-country teams had successful races this past weekend at the Hamilton College Invitational. While later in the season, the women’s team ran 6-kilometer distance races and the men’s team ran 8-kilometer distance races, in this early season meet, both teams ran shorter distance races, with the women running a 4-kilometer race and the men running a 5-kilometer race.  

Alli Sibold ‘24 won the women’s 4-kilometer race in a time of 14:08.7, which was a course record. This led the Saints to a second-place finish with 40 points, only three points behind the first-place Hamilton College Continentals, who won the meet as a team with a score of 37. Emma Palumbo also ran a great race for the Saints, running a time of 14:50.8 and finishing in third place overall. Hannah Bennett ran 15:02.0 and got sixth place, Adriana Cecchetelli ran 15:22.6 and finished in 12th place, and Charlotte Blake rounded out the top five for the Saints, running a time of 15:27.9 and getting 18th place overall.   

Michael Skutt ‘24 won the men’s 5-kilometer race in a time of 15:08.2. Just like Sibold in the women’s race, Skutt set a course record with his time. As a team, the Saints finished in second place overall with 48 points, losing to Division II Roberts Wesleyan, who scored 47 points, by one point. Nick Lyndaker finished second for the Saints and second overall in the race with a time of 15:22.3. Matt Coleman finished 10th overall and ran 15:49.4, Griffin Roeder finished 15th overall and ran a time of 15:57.4, and Colin Young rounded out the top five for the Saints, running a time of 16:03.3 and finishing in 20th place.   

Sibold won the Liberty League Women’s Cross Country Performer of the Week award, and Skutt won the Liberty League Men’s Cross Country Performer of the Week award. Additionally, Skutt was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week for his performance at the Hamilton meet, which is a very impressive honor. This is the second time that a St. Lawrence male athlete has been named as the National Athlete of the Week, with the first time occurring in October 2019 when Dadley Ogetti received this national honor. As a teammate of Skutt, I can say this award is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and positive attitude that he puts towards running, and it is definitely very well deserved.    

The next meet for the Saints will be their home meet, the Hoffman Invitational, which will take place on Saturday, Sept. 23. They will run their full 6k and 8k distance races at this meet. If you are free that Saturday morning and want to watch some exciting cross-country races, be sure to come to the Ronald C. Hoffman Cross Country Course. The men’s race will be at 11 a.m., and the women’s race will be at 12 p.m.