Men's XC Finishes Strong at Northeast Regionals

Friday, November 10

Buffalo, NY

12 PM

Army West Point

Northeast Regional Championships

Men's XC Finishes Strong at Northeast Regionals

November 10, 2017 | Men's Cross Country

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's cross country team placed third out of 37 schools at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on Friday afternoon.

With the finish, senior John Valeri, who placed 13th overall, qualifies for a spot as an individual competitor at the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships, hosted by Louisville on Nov. 18.

"Our guys were tenacious out there today and to say that I am proud of them is an understatement," said head coach Mike Smith. "We had our best race of the season today in the worst possible racing conditions. The wind (17mph) and cold (7 degree wind chill) were the least of the challenges the men faced. The mud, ice and water made this one of the most physically challenging races as I have ever witnessed. The course was so saturated that it was like running on a sponge. Our guys were committed to the competition and were able to put aside all of the conditions and focus in on the racing, and it showed."

"We were as far back as eighth in the middle of the race, but we kept on moving up. Each guy in our top five caught guys from other teams over the last 5K and we vaulted ourselves up to third. That in itself is significant because we haven't placed that high at our regional meet since we were third in 2001."

"Just a great team race from our guys. Each one in that top five was special today. Mikey Singer was our fifth today and flipped the score on Columbia coming down the stretch by passing their number five. Roman [Ollar] made a dramatic move at halfway and kept coming until he caught up to Robbie [Santoyo], and then those two worked together to the line. Ben [Petrella] went through a rough patch early and then recovered, and kept on moving up."

"And then there was John Valeri. He ran a composed and determined race that brought him closer and closer to the front until he found himself within sight of the leaders with 800m to go. He is a tenacious finisher and today was a good example of what he is capable of. He moved himself all the way up to the last NCAA championship individual qualifying position, and held off a charge from a kid from Brown over the last 300m. He was 49th last year at this meet and 13th today. He is a great example of what hard work and determination can lead to. I think our last NCAA qualifier was Jon Anderson in 2008, so John's performance today is a significant step forward for us."

"We ran as well as we could today and this was a special year for the guys. They accomplished a lot. Ultimately you wish that you could get the team to the NCAA championships but we came up just a little bit short."

Player's Quote:
"From the get go, we identified as a team goal we wanted to get into the top three teams in the Northeast region," said senior John Valeri. "So, running through my head really the entire race, was just to get the lowest number possible to contribute to the team score. Our team, one through seven today, executed big time. Our cow leader Mikey Singer, stepped up to the plate as fifth man and everyone really rolled that second half of the race catching as many people as possible."

"I was very pleased with my performance individually. I knew that this could have been my last race of my career, and thankfully I ran it well enough to make it not be so."

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Army was led by Valeri who earned the 13th spot overall with a time of 32:16.5.
He was followed by sophomores Roman Ollar (32:55.9) and Robbie Santoyo (33:00.1), respectively.
Sophomore Ben Petrella (33:29.4) and junior Mikey Singer (33:44.2) closed out the final two on Army's scoring squad.
The team improved by eight spots from last year when they took 12th of 46 schools.
This was the first time since 2001 that the Black Knights finished this meet with a top three performance.
This was the first time Army has defeated an Ivy League school at this meet since 2005.
The squad has had an impressive season thus far, including a win over rival Navy in the annual Star meet, as well as a title at the Patriot League Championships.

ARMY INDIVIDUAL FINISHES
13.  John Valeri, Sr            32:16.5
33.  Roman Ollar, So         32:55.9
38.  Robbie Santoyo, So    33:00.1
59.  Ben Petrella, So          33:29.4
75.  Mikey Singer, Jr          33:44.2
121. Daniel Mazzei, Fr       34:29.0
174. Alex Tosi, So             35:16.6


TOP 10 RESULTS 
1.  Syracuse (28)
2.  Iona (48)
3.  Army (218)
4.  Stony Brook (222)
5.  Columbia (223)
6.  Boston U. (228)
7.  Brown (245)
8.  UMass Lowell (254)
9.  Cornell (272)
10. Harvard (285)

For more information on Army West Point men's cross country team, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.