Hackettstown, NJ:The Centenary Cross Country teams kicked off their 2023 season with the Misericordia Invitational Friday evening, September 1st.

Women's

The Lady Cyclones went straight to work in the field of 113 runners. First year Jillian Ulanowski led the team in a time of 22:13.6 to cover the rolling, all grass 4K course. Senior Captain Kelly Ann Earrusso was close on her heels with a time of 22:48.7. For Earrusso, her pace is already on par with her fastest race of last year. Showing the biggest improvement on the roster, Stefania Mizakova was the third runner in a time of 26:42.9 for a finish 6:46.3 faster than last year! Newcomer Emma Darnsteadt battled to a fourth place team finish in 28:27.6 followed closely by Carolyn Rosenberg's 28:52.2 finish. 

Men's

Sophomore Jarod Gajda led the team with a time of 17:08.3, with Senior Jared Aponte in hot pursuit in a time of 17:39.1. Sophomore Gabe Lentzner was the team's third finisher with a well-paced effort of 18:38.4 (a 1:22 improvement over last year). Sophomore Josh Pinkhasov and Junior Captain John Triana rounded out the scoring in 19:36.2 and 19:46.5 respectively. First time runners Travis Austin(21:59.8) and Jibran Uddin (24:09.5) ran excellent races in support of the top 5.

Coach Regan
"We're excited with these results! The women have clearly been working this summer with each of the ladies recording PR's. The team's average finish time was almost 3 minutes per runner faster. They are already thinking of where they could have improved, regardless of their improvements – their attitudes are great! On the men's side, we are training through the first few meets. The improvements made by the returners and the better-than-expected results of Travis and Jibran have given us a real positive outlook on this season. Our next few weeks will be challenging, but both the Women's and Men's teams are looking forward to building off today."