Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Maine
Men's Cross Country Opens Season with Victory Over Maine
September 03, 2022 | Men's Cross Country
| MEET 1 | |
|---|---|
| SCORE | Army 28, Maine 29 |
| DISTANCE | 8 Kilometers |
| LOCATION | Orono, Maine |
ORONO, ME- The Army West Point men's cross country team opened the season with a narrow victory over the Maine Black Bears. The Black Knights were paced by Erick Lara and Luke Lusskin, who each tabbed top-four finishes in the race.
It was a group effort for the Black Knights to claim victory with Maine having both the first and second-place finisher for the meet. The junior duo of Lara (24:50.6) and Lusskin (24:55.1) came in close behind for third and fourth place finishes, respectively. Plebes Andrew Littlehales and Marc Baroncini made an immediate impact in their first collegiate meet, with Littlehales clocking at (25:38.7) for a sixth-place showing and Baroncini (25:46.2) coming in eighth. The Black Knights scoring group was rounded out by Christopher Verdugo (25:45.2, seventh place), Nathan Davis (25:54.7, 10th place) and Anthony Diaz (25:54.8, 11th place).
Coach's Corner
"The Maine men competed very well today and we were lucky to come out with the win. They were disciplined up front and just ran better than us with their top two guys. We put a couple of veterans in the race in Erick Lara and Luke Lusskin to balance our team. Those two pushed at the front until the 5k mark when the two Maine runners surged and got away from us. After them, we relied on our plebes to carry us and that is almost always a risky proposition. All of our plebes went out hard and put themselves up in front of the race before going backwards towards the last part of the race, but that is not unexpected. Andrew Littlehales, Marc Baroncini, Nathan Davis and Anthony Diaz all did a nice job of holding their positions. For most of them, this was their first 8k and the adjustment to the longer race is a challenge but they showed guts and eventually their fitness will catch up with their mindset and they will be attacking the end of the race instead of surviving. Overall, I am pleased with how we hung in there but it's obvious that we have a lot of work to do." - Mike Smith
A full list of results for this meet can be found HERE.
Up Next
The Black Knights return on Friday, Sept. 16 to take on Iona College from Van Cortland Park, N.Y.
For complete coverage of Army West Point cross country and track and field, follow the Black Knights on Twitter (ArmyWP_TrackXC) and Instagram (goarmytrack) and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.
Players Mentioned
