BENNINGTON, Vt. – The annual Mountaineer Invitational was hosted by Southern Vermont College Cross Country on Saturday throughout the college's campus.
For the third-straight week, the Mountaineers were led by freshman Josh Ceasar (Bardstown, Ky.), coming in eighth with a time of 32:38. SUNY Canton's Justin Richardson (Wallkill, N.Y.) led the 48-runner field, finishing in 30:21.
SUNY Canton finished first as a team, seeing three runners finish in the top ten. The Mountaineers were sixth for the day.
Ceasar implemented a plan designed by Mountaineer coach Maria Stuber, slowly working his way up the field throughout the race. After the first mile, he was in 29th place. He continued to press along the mountain-side course until being within eyeshot of seventh; he finished just two second behind SUNY Canton's Zach Doyle (Oneonta, N.Y.).
SVC sophomore captain Victor Velazquez (Los Angeles, Calif.) did 40 seconds better than he did at the Mountaineer Invitational in 2011, finishing 29th with a time of 36:42. Freshman Hesbon Ogeka (Windom, Minn.) was not far behind, coming in at 37:41.
A minute later, freshman Kenny Poteat (Yonkers, N.Y.) finished in 35th at 38:41. "Hesbon and Kenny are getting fitter every week," said Stuber. "They are on track to be contenders in late October." SVC's top-five was rounded out by freshman Cameron Curtiss (Milton, Mass.) who finished 40th by pulling away from another runner in his final sprint, finnishing at 41:32.
The weather made for a beautiful day of running on the course laid about Mount Anthony during the College's Homecoming Weekend. Stuber thanks all the students and staff who volunteered to make the event so successful. "Today was a great reminder that SVC is a great place to be either a student-athlete or coach."
The Mountaineers will next compete in the Vermont State Championships at Lyndon State College on the 29th. The men's race is slated to start at 1 p.m.