Meet #5
CANISIUS ALUMNI CLASSIC
DATE: Saturday, October 15
TIMES: Women's Race -12 p.m. | Men's Race - 12:45 p.m.
DISTANCES: Women - 5K | Men - 8K 
LOCATION: Buffalo, N.Y. | Delaware Park
LINKS: Live Timing 

BACK IN BUFFALO
The Daemen University men's and women's cross country team will travel across town to race in the Canisius Alumni Classic for the seventh year in a row on Saturday, October 15 at Delaware Park. The Wildcats have run in this race every year since 2015 except 2020 (the NCAA canceled the 2020 cross country season). The Daemen women's team has won every single meet they've run in this season, marking their place in the Daemen record books with four consecutive first-place finishes. The men's team placed second in three meets, and finished third out of 10 teams on Saturday in the Highlander Invitational, the biggest meet they've participated in this season. The Wildcats are one of 14 teams participating in the Canisius Alumni Classic on Saturday, with Alfred State, Buffalo, Buffalo State, host Canisius, D'Youville, Duquesne, Geneseo, Niagara, Oswego, RIT, Roberts Wesleyan, SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry and St. Bonaventure rounding out the field. In last year's Canisius Alumni Classic, the women's team won their fourth meet of the season, finishing 1st out of 12 teams, while the men finished 8th of 12 teams. 

PROGRAM RECORDS
Jon Moote (Wilson, N.Y.) made history when he raced to his second straight first-place finish at the Highlander Invitational. The junior shaved over a minute off his previous PR on Saturday, setting a personal-best and program record time of 25:30.1 over the 8K race. Moote's time ended Kevin Roginson's school record of 25:32.6 that was set at the 2016 Harry F. Anderson Invitational. With his historic finish, Moote now owns the No. 1 and No. 10 spots in the Daemen record book of fastest 8K times in the Wildcats' NCAA Div. II era (2015-present). 

HISTORIC START
Along with the Moote's feat on Saturday and the women's team finishing first overall in four consecutive meets for a program-first, Marcy Colca (Getzville, N.Y.) has made Daemen program history as well this season. The speedy sophomore has topped the field in each of the four meets this year, each in different distances. Colca finished first out of 66 runners at the Frank Dillon Memorial Invitational with a 4K time of 15:32.2, she placed first out of 70 runners in the Daemen Alumni Invitational with a 5K time of 18:40.8, she finished first out of 29 runners in the historic Equality Invitational with a time of 31:09.8 in the 8K race, and paced the field of 95 runners to win her fourth straight victory with a time of 22:57.5 at the Highlander Invitational over the 6K race. Colca's feat marked the first time in program history that a Daemen runner finished first overall in four straight meets. 

P-R CATS
Several Wildcats have earned personal records this season. All 12 runners on the men's team set personal bests at the Highlander Invitational on Saturday. Alongside Moote's record setting performance, junior Connor O'Brien (Hamburg, N.Y.) shaved 30 seconds off his previous PR with a time of 26:42.3. Junior Phil Ceccarelli (Hamburg, N.Y.) set a personal record of 27:04.3, one minute and 16 seconds faster than his previous PR. Senior Dominic Clementi (Barker, N.Y.) shaved 34 seconds off his previous PR for a time of 27:12.1. Junior Steven Blatto (Lancaster, N.Y.) PR'd with a time of 27:14.0, over a minute off his previous best. Junior David Schwinger (Buffalo, N.Y.) earned a personal best of 27:49.9. Freshman Aidan Kincaid (Orchard Park, N.Y.) shaved off over a minute off his time at the Equality Invitational for a PR of 27:51.9. Sophomore John Balch (Saranac, N.Y.) PR'd with a 28:16.4. John Bruggman (Batavia, N.Y.) earned a 28:22.6 personal best. Josh Trometer (Lancaster, N.Y.) put up a 28:27.9 in his second ever race. Junior Laertes Cushing (Alfred, N.Y.) PR'd at 30:03.2, and redshirt senior Alexander Reynolds (Olean, N.Y.) posted a PR of 30:18.9. In the women's 6K at the Highlander Invitational, freshman Patsy Oberholzer (Greece, N.Y.) ran her first collegiate 6K and finished fourth with a time of 23:25.2. Junior Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) posted a 6K personal record time of 23:51.3, 20 seconds faster than her previous best. Redshirt senior Hannah Thomas (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) shaved 42 seconds off to earn a PR time of 24:12.4. Sophomore Emma Grzebinski (West Seneca, N.Y.), and freshmen Madeline Straub (Olean, N.Y.), Hayley Pizur (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Kennedy Pino (Spencerport, N.Y.) all ran the first 6K of their college cross country careers. 

AWARD SEASON
The Wildcats have been well represented in the East Coast Conference weekly awards this season. Colca and Oberholzer won four awards, with Colca becoming the first Daemen runner since Mackenzie Donahue to take home four Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week honors in the same year, while Oberholzer tied Donahue (2013) as the only Daemen winner to win four Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Week awards. On the men's side, Moote picked up his second ECC Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week after breaking the Daemen men's 8K record, and Kincaid picked up his third Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Week honors, becoming the first Daemen runner to take home multiple ECC Rookie of the Week awards since Matt Cregan in 2013. The Daemen women's team has been ranked second out of 10 teams in the East Region throughout the season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Wildcat men and women were both ranked in the Regional rankings for the first time in program history in Week Three, with the men cracking the top-10 for the first time since 2018. 

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen have a two week break before heading to Rochester, N.Y. to run in the 2022 East Coast Conference Championships on Saturday, Nov. 5.
 

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