Cross Country Begins 2012 Season at Ramapo Invitational

WEST PATERSON, N.J. – Senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) and freshman Thomas Rushin (Ocoee, FL/Ocoee) were the lead runners for the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's and women's cross country teams at the first annual Ramapo College Roadrunner Invitational on Friday afternoon at Garret Mountain.

In the team's season opener, Mangan finished in 14th place overall with a time of 21:40 on the 5K course pacing the squad to an eighth place team finish out of 10 scoring teams.  Junior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) came in second for the Lady Bears in 24:38 and rounding out the scoring five were Dalixy Solis (28:11), Melissa Morrice (29:04) and Lauren Conter (30:03).

On the men's side, Rushin finished in 38:17 in his first collegiate race, pacing the Bears to a ninth place team finish out of 10 scoring teams. Following Rushin across the finish line were Vincent Rossi (41:47), Danny Contant (41:49), John Moore (42:17) and Joe Mendez (42:36).

Host Ramapo captured the title in both the men's and women's team competitions placing all five scoring runners in the top 10.

The Bears and Lady Bears will return to action on Sunday, September 30th at the College of Staten Island Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx with the women's race starting at 10 am followed by the men's race at 11 am.