Top Moments: First-Year Runners Lead Cross Country at Highlander Challenge

Saint Peter’s University Athletics enjoyed an incredibly successful 2019-20 academic year and was poised for even greater heights prior to the early cancelations of the winter and spring seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To honor the incredible student-athletes who made this past athletics season possible, we will look back at a number of milestone moments every week to celebrate 2019-20 to the fullest.

Youth Movement

The Saint Peter's University cross country program was entering the third season under head coach John Marshall in the fall of 2019, and with that came the expectation for continued improvements and the laying of a solid foundation for the future. 

During Marshall's first two seasons in Jersey City, there had been plenty of documented success both from a competitive standpoint and an academic standpoint. His coaching staff had helped produce four individual medalists and an individual champion at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Track & Field Championships, while a number of student-athletes had earned MAAC All-Academic honors. Most impressively, the 2018 women’s cross country team received the NCAA Public Recognition Award, an honor bestowed on teams with an NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate in the top 10 percent nationally.

As the calendar turned to 2019-20, an infusion of new talent bolstered both the men's and women's rosters. In fact, on the cross country rosters alone, 80 percent of both roster was either a freshman or sophomore. If anything, that would mean that every runner on the roster, regardless of class year, would be thrown into the fire all season long. That valuable experience would prove dividends not only this season, but in the years to come.

Setting The Stage

It became evident early on that the young blood would lead the cross country program in 2019. A pair of newcomers led both the men and the women's circuit at the first race of the 2019 campaign in September after the Peacocks posted a solid showing at the 25th annual Henry Mercer Invitational at Holmdel Park.  

First-year runner Clardo Nestor led the men's side by finishing with a final time of 30:10.93, averaging nearly a six-minute mile. Nestor earned a top-120 finish thanks to those efforts. Fellow freshman Kaylah Davis led the Peacock women with a final time of 22:18.52 in the 5K race, placing 123rd overall. 

With one race in the books, the Peacocks turned their attention to the NJIT-hosted Highlander Cross Country Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Branch Brook Park in nearby Newark.  

How It Happened

• Clardo Nestor represented the top Peacock finisher on the men's side for the second straight race, securing a top-30 finish thanks to a blistering 5:23.8-mile pace on the way to a 28th-place finish. He posted a final time of 26:49.20 in in the 8K race.
• Kaylah Davis highlighted the women's runners with a 32nd-place performance, her best thus far. She averaged a 6:15.2 mile and finished the 5K race in under 20 minutes (19:25.69).
• The next two finishers on the men's side were also freshmen, with David Szaro and Michael Conover crossing the final time in under 30 minutes. The former did so in 29:04.83, while the latter completed his circuit in 29:37.86.
• Junior Rodolfo Cirilo rounded out the top-four with a time of 30:35.60, averaging just over a six-minute mile. Rookie Lovens Lormilus was the last runner on the men's team, placing in the top-170 with a time of 32:05.73.
• The next three women's runners were all within 10 seconds of one another starting with junior Evelin Alvarez, who crossed the line in 22:13.02. Classmate Grace Proctor and rookie Lovely Francois were less than a second apart to round out the top-four Peacocks on the women's side.
• Finally, fellow freshman Tola Osipitan rounded out the Saint Peter's contingent with a time of 24:40.87.
• Overall, the men's side finished 21st out of 29 teams, while the women placed 17th in a 29-team field, representing their best finishes of the entire fall.

The Aftermath

With a spectacular showing at the Highlander Challenge in the books, the program looked ahead to the final two races of the cross country season. Following another strong outing at the Metropolitan Championships on short rest less than a week later, the Peacocks rounded out the year at the MAAC Cross Country Championships in early November and turned their sights to the indoor track & field circuit.

At the MAAC Championships, it was rookies again that would lead the way – freshman David Szaro represented the top runner on the men's side in the 8K race, edging classmate Clardo Nestor by less than a second, while fellow freshman Kaylah Davis capped off her rookie cross country campaign with a time of 25:48.23, averaging a sub-seven-minute mile in the 6K race to place just outside of the top-100.

There was easily no team as young as Saint Peter's was this past fall, and while the results might not make it apparent on the surface, true progress was made and felt up and down a youthful roster. With that experience in tow, the 2020-21 cross country season will surely have the potential to be the program's best in quite some time when the runners return to action in a few short months.

Stay tuned for future Top Moments of 2019-20 in the weeks ahead!

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