Even though it was the first home meet of the season, it was also the last one, and the Quinnipiac Bobcats knew they didn’t want to disappoint their fans.

The Quinnipiac’s men’s cross country team finished second to Stonehill on Saturday, 20-37.

“We still have some stuff to work on,” Quinnipiac head coach Carolyn Martin said after the race. “Our men’s team is very young and a lot of the men are still learning to race a five mile race, so it’s a learning process right now because they’re so young.”
Yale’s Chris Scavone, a senior, won the 8,000-meter race with a time of 26:23. Freshman teammate Mike Cunetta finished second overall with a time of 26:50.

However, Yale was unable to place because the team didn’t have enough runners competing, despite placing four runners in the top 10.

Quinnipiac sophomore Mike Levene finished fifth overall with a time of 27:16 for the Bobcats, but he said he and the team could have had a better showing at their only home meet.
“On an individual scale I think I did all right, I could have definitely done better,” he said following the race.
Levene still has potential to run at 100 percent because of an injury he suffered toward the end of last year.

“Some of his training has been disrupted throughout the year and so he’s still coming back from those injuries, so he’s still getting back into himself as a racer,” Martin said.

Martin also said Levene could return to full health before the end of the season, which would make him more of an asset to the team.

Fellow sophomore Brian Cotter followed Levene as he finished with a time of 27:39, placing ninth overall.
Not lost in the midst of Quinnipiac’s race was senior captain John Greenlaw. Quinnipiac’s Department of Athletics recognized him before his last home race for his accomplishments.

“It’s kind of sad and kind of nice,” Greenlaw said. “It’s sad that it’s my last race but it’s nice that I got to run it with my team and some of my best friends on the team. It’s kind of bittersweet in a way.”

Greenlaw said his skills as a runner are more important than his accomplishments. “I made myself a better runner and made some great friends on the team. If you asked me six years ago if I would be able to run at this level I would be hesitant to respond.”

The Bobcats will compete at the Paul Shore Invitational at Lehigh University Oct. 1. Martin plans on having the team practice more and make sure everyone is ready.

“This next week of practice we’re going to push them pretty hard and have some really hard work outs next week, and then we will probably pull back a little bit before the next week so we can have them feeling fresher for the next race.”

Regarding the next race, Levene said, “We will keep working hard and keep our heads up. As long as we keep pushing then we’ll be all right.”

Photo credit: Charlotte Greene