SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's cross country team opened its 2016 season today by running in the Le Moyne Alumni Short Course Invitational, finishing in third place out of five competing teams with a total of 65 points.
SUNY Delhi placed four runners among the top-eight finishers and placed first with 29 points. Lane Kobie of SUNY Delhi took individuals honors, as he posted a course-record time of 20:32.71 to narrowly beat Sean Beney (20:36.01) of Le Moyne College. Jack Hillenbrand of SUNY Delhi, who placed first last year with a then-record time of 20:52.64, finished third (20:51.56). Le Moyne placed five runners in the top-10 and finished second with 41 points. Daemen (65), Onondaga Community College (113) and Wells College (126) rounded out the field.
The Wildcats placed five runners in the top-20 and were paced today by junior Kevin Roginson (Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) who finished fourth with a time of 21:09.9, knocking nearly two minutes off his time of last year (23:01.01). Freshman Josh Bodnar (Fillmore, N.Y./Filmore) turned in a solid collegiate debut, as he placed second among Daemen runners and 10th overall with a time of 22:21.87.
Senior Nigel Cordulla (Cheektowaga, N.Y./John F. Kennedy), sophomore Lucas Canales (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) and newcomer Zach Barnes (Jamestown, N.Y./Jamestown CC) each picked up top-20 finishes for the Wildcats. Cordulla placed 14th with a time of 22:52.81, while Canales (23:30.36) placed 18th and Barnes finished 19th (23:33.91) in his first race in the Daemen Blue and White.
Junior Mike Capestrani (Jamestown, N.Y./Jamestown) and freshmen Dom Russo (Middletown, N.Y./Middletown) and Timothy Poole (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) also competed for Daemen, but did not figure in the scoring. Capestrani finished 26th (24:08.86), Russo finished 30th (24:30.18) and Poole placed 35th (25:24.81).
Daemen is off for two weeks and returns to action Sept. 17 when it takes part in the Rochester Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by the University of Rochester.
For continuing coverage on the Daemen men's cross country team throughout the season, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenXC on Twitter.
