2025 Catholic University Cross Country Meet 2

The Catholic University cross country season for 2025 had its second meet today at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was a nice day, though a little warm to run. Catholic University and some other Division III foes raced today. The Catholic University men finished fourth and the women finished seventh. One thing that was good for Catholic University was that many of the runners who scored points were underclassmen. It seems the future is bright for Catholic University. Do you think better days lie ahead for Catholic University running?

Catholic University In the Cantello Invitational

The race today (September 13), called the Cantello Invitational, was at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. The women’s 6K began at 9:45 a.m. with the men’s 4.9-mile run at 10:30 a.m. In addition, there was an open 5K at 9:00 a.m. with an alumni “Bertha” mile following at 11:00 a.m.

In the men’s five-kilometer race, there were only two runners for the Catholic University. Alexanadre Ramos finished 20th in a time of 18:28.5. Ramos is a freshman. Matthew McCormack, another freshman, finished in 34th place in 20:35.8. In the women’s five-kilometer race, there were also two finishers for Catholic. Sarah Roberts is a freshman who finished the race in 24:18.5. A sophomore, Julia Becker, finished second in 27:32.9.

In the women’s varsity six-kilometer race, Catholic University had an eighth-place finisher. Freshman Olivia Sobkowicz finished the race in 23.23.9. Laurel McMahon finished 12th in 23.40.0. She is a junior. Catholic had three women finish from 45th to 47th. Alex Grassi, a junior, Erin Roche, a freshman, and Brigid Cavanaugh, another freshman, finished in 26:13.0, 25:25.0, and 26:35.7, respectively. Lily Michell 28.36.8. Isabel Duran, yet another freshman, finished in 29:45.8.

In the male 4.9-mile race, Catholic had 12 finishers. Leading the way was senior Joe Wolfe, who finished the race in 26.07.7 and was in 15th place. In 28th place was Junior Joe Locke, 27:07.6. In 31st place was Freshman Michael Burnett, with a time of 27:25.9. Freshman Tim Brown finished in 34th place with a time of 27:33.6.

Tim Sweeney, a Freshman, finished in 39th place with a time of 28:11.4. Patrick Morris and David Strango, both Juniors, finished in 43rd and 44th places with times of 28:34.3 and 28:34.4. Jack Kildron finished in 49th place. Richard Harrington and Brady Falcon finished in  53rd and 54th places.  Peter Winter finished in 56th place. Shane Waring finished in 59th place. Daniel Ponciano finished in 63rd place. Catholic University did not have anyone running in the Bertha mile.

Results

The Catholic University men finished in fourth place with 103 points. The point total in cross country is the sum of the places of the top five finishers in the race. This race, like the one two weeks ago, was won by UMBC, though they were not as dominant as two weeks ago. The Catholic women finished in sixth place out of seven teams. They had  122 points, and the meet was won by the Naval Academy.

Conclusion

This race was fair. Though Catholic would have liked to finish higher, there is no escaping that many of the runners today were underclassmen. The head coach of the cross country and track team, Steve Rahn, said, “They performed well on a tough course on a warm day. Most of the team, this was their first time at 6k for the women and 4.9 miles for men, so they executed well. We’re looking forward to watching them progress over the next few weeks in preparation for our next meet at Paul Short.”