Doherty and Russell Top Finishers for Cross Country in Season Opener at Purchase Invitational

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Under first-year head coach Patrick Goldberg, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's and women's cross country teams kicked off their 2017 seasons at the Purchase College Invitational on Saturday morning. Junior Shannon Doherty paced the women to a 13th place finish while the men were led by freshman Justin Russell.

Women's Highlights

• Shannon Doherty finished in 46th overall with a 6K personal-best time of 29:49.
• Senior Rebeca Ramirez came in three spots behind Doherty, three seconds later, also posting a personal-best 29:52.
• Tamarre Phajou (41:07, 101st place), Maya Bayliss (49:30, 108th place) and Denise Trerotola (49:41, 109th place) rounded out the scoring five.
• The Bears finished in 13th place finishing ahead of New Rochelle in the 14-team field.

Men's Highlights

• Five rookies started for the Bears who competed in their first race since 2015.
• Freshman Justin Russell just narrowly missed a top 50 finish coming in 51st place, covering the 8K course in 33:10.
• Freshman Danny Zhang (47:52, 112nd place), junior Adam Schwartz (51:27, 117th place) and sophomore Matthew Rienzi (52:25, 119th place) completed the finishers for the Bears.
• Despite starting the race with five runners, only four crossed the finish, one shy of receiving a team score. 

Next up for the Bears

• St. Joseph's heads to the Bronx to compete at the Queensborough CC Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park on Sunday, September 17 starting at 10 a.m.