'01 XC

'02 track

The NYU harriers opened their season this past weekend, September 8 at the William Paterson University Invitational, a ten team meet hosted at the Garrett Mountain Reservation in West Paterson, New Jersey. The weather was sunny and warm.

Running as a pack, the team moved up throughout the race, capturing the overall team title despite holding out their top three athletes. The Violets were led by freshman Travis Keany (29:07, 5th overall), who was running in his first cross country race ever. Following Keany were sophomore Tucker Radar (29:20, 7th), junior Mike Eisenberg (29:28, 8th), freshman Brian Buechal (29:45, 9th) who moved up significantly during the second half of the race, and senior Anthony Maniscalco (30:09, 13th). Nearly every upperclassman improved their time from last year's race and the team looks to build on this race in next week's Wagner College Invitational.

After a week hiatus, the NYU harriers returned to action this weekend by both hosting and competing in the New York University Cross Country Invitational at Van Cortland Park. Sunny, warm, and humid conditions greeted the 45 schools represented and 371 finishers.

The meet was the first for NYU as a full squad and the first college meet for freshmen Vini Zarrillo, Joe Clabby, and Pat McHenry. Zarrillo led the Violets, running a smart, yet aggressive race to finish 7th overall in a time of 26:45 on the challenging Van Cortland course. Also running strong races for NYU were Sophomore Tucker Rader (28:15, 55th) and Freshman Brian Buechel (28:39, 75th). The violets will return to the course twice more this season: October 5 for the New York Metropolitan Championships and November 10 for the NCAA Division 3 Eastern Regional meet.

Coach McDonough called the race "good, but not great" and feels the team can run better as the season progresses and his athletes continue to gain strength and experience.

Bowdoin College won the team title and Mike Styczynski (26:12) of Ithaca,the individual. NYU finished 6th among Atlantic Region teams at the meet.

The Wagner College Cross Country Invitational, originally scheduled for September 15, was run this weekend as a 5 kilometer event. Eight teams competed: Wagner, Sienna, Long Island University, St. Francis, Ramapo, Bloomfield, Molloy, and NYU. The first hint of fall was in the air, with dark skies and sixty degree temperatures gracing the event.

The NYU harriers easily outdistanced the rest of the field of division 1, 2, and 3 schools, placing 7 runners in the top 13. Leading was Travis Keany (16:22, 1st), followed by Pat McHenry (16:46, 4th), Mike Eisenberg (16:59, 5th), Tucker Rader (17:09, 7th) and Brian Buechal (17:22, 9th). The NYU harriers return to action this Friday at Van Cortland Park, for the New York Metropolitan Conference Championships.

The beat goes on for the nyu harriers, as they finished eleventh of fifteen teams at the New York Metropolitan Cross Country Championships. Warm weather again greeted the Violets, who were led by freshman Vini Zarillo (27th, 27:35). Following Zarillo were Travis Keany (46th, 28:13), Tucker Rader, (47th, 28:13), Mike Eisenberg (60th, 28:54), and Pat McHenry (63rd, 29:03). Keany, Rader, Eisenberg, and McHenry each improved on their times from the NYU Invitational, also held at Van Cortland Park. Despite these performances, the team still has room to grow, and looks to improve as the schedule turns to championship races.

Despite the conspicuous presence of fall foilage, warm weather again accompanied the nyu harriers - this week at the albany cross country invitational. the albany meet was also the first overnight trip for the class of 2005 and for the record, the bus usually isn't that late, the navigation is usually better, and roadside signs are usually not sacrificed. placing snafus aside, the violets ran one of their strongest races of the season, finishing fourth of twenty teams.

Travis Keany (15th, 26:40) edged out Vini Zarillo (16th, 26:40) to lead the violets. Tucker Rader continued his season-long improvement with a near personal best of 27:10 (27th place). Rounding out the top five were freshman Joe Clabby (54th, 28:00) and Pat McHenry (60th, 28:05). The overall winner of the race was Anthony DeBenedictus (25:10), a former All-American for Coach McDonough at Seton Hall, who ran unattached. Anthony frequently joins the NYU harriers for workouts and continues to train under coach McDonough.

The violets have the week off in preparation for the UAA Cross Country Championships October 27th in Atlanta, Georgia.

The NYU harriers ran their strongest race of the season at this past weekend's UAA Cross Country Championships. This year's meet was hosted by Emory University in Atlanta. Unusually cool weather greeted the eight team, 79 man field, yet did not hinder the competition, as the race was the closest contested in Coach McDonough's tenure. The violets finished fifth overall as Washinton University captured the team title.

Leading the Violets was freshman Vini Zarrillo (5th, 25:41), whose personal best effort earned all-Conference designation and was the second highest in NYU history. Following Zarrillo was Tucker Rader (20th, 26:39), Travis Keany (26th, 26:49), Brian Beuchal (35th, 26:59), Mike Eisenberg (36th, 27:00), Joe Clabby (41st, 27:09) and Anthony Maniscalco (55th, 27:58). In addition to Zarrillo, Rader, Beuchal, and Clabby recorded personal bests.

The Violets next meet is the NCAA Atlantic Regional, November 10. The meet is beeing hosted by NYU at Van Cortland Park.

the nyu harriers' season came to a close after this past weekend's NCAA Atlantic Regional at Van Cortland Park. The team of four freshman and one sophomore, one junior, and one senior ran aggressively over the second, third, and fourth miles to place fifth (only 7 points out of 4th), with the top six running big personal bests on the challenging Van Cortland course. Coach McDonough called the race "the best in his tenure" and also noted that it was the highest finish for NYU at the Division III Atlantic Regional.

Leading the team was Vini Zarrillo (freshman, 5th, 26:28), followed by Tucker Rader (soph, 30th, 27:23), Travis Keany (freshman, 40th, 27:37), Joe Clabby (freshman, 47th, 27:49), Anthony Maniscalco (senior, 59th, 28:03), Brian Buechel (freshman, 79th, 28:27) and Mike Eisenberg (junior, 101st, 28:52). Zarrillo's race was the second highest at the Atlantic Regional to Moti Margolin's 4th place finish in 1999 (Margolin finished 28th at the National Meet to earn All-American honors that year.) Rader's race represented an improvement of 45 places from his finish at last year's regional meet, while Maniscalco improved 32 places. Freshman Joe Clabby knocked 45 seconds off his fastest Van Cortland race, Keany 47 seconds, Rader 50 seconds, and Maniscalco an amazing 1:23. With 6 and potentially 7 members returning, the violets eagerly anticipate next fall's season.