The St. Thomas Aquinas cross country teams races in Rochester this weekend at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational. Freshman Robbie Guidicipietro led the men with a 12th place finish in a collegiate best 26:09. Senior Meaghan Ventarola was the first woman to cross the line for the Spartans.
Guidicipietro ran with the lead group for much of the race. He was the second East Coast Conference finisher. Classmate Jon Gay was the next Spartan in. He covered the five mile course in 27:24 which was also a collegiate record. Seniors Jamer Linares and Ryan Gasser took the third and fourth spots for the Spartan scorers in 28:28 and 28:52 respectively. Senior Campbell Zicchino was the final scorer for STAC. In only his second cross country race ever, he clocked a time of 28:53. Freshman Austin Labbe was next in 28:58, followed by junior Christian Diaz (29:16). The Spartans took 9th place overall in a field of 22.
On the women's side, Ventarola dropped almost two minutes from the first race of the season finishing in 18:58 and in 6th place. Freshman Aida Torpey ran a new collegiate personal record of 19:44. Senior Trish Nersten really stepped up clocking 20:13, also a two minute improvement from the first race of the season. Freshman Rebecca MacLeod came through at 20:23 followed by junior Kara Santa Teresa at 20:46 rounding out the scorers. Senior Katie O'Grady finished next in 20:50 and freshman Jennyfer Huerta posted a 21:30 in her first collegiate competition. The women finished 9th overall out of 21 teams.
The Spartans will return to action next Saturday at the Paul Short Invitational hosted by Lehigh University.