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NYU Athletics

Jesse Schneider

Men's Cross Country

Men's Cross Country Team Reigns at Rumble

Violets capture Inter-Regional Rumble, defeating seven ranked opponents.

Jesse Schneider outdistanced a field of 270 runners at the Inter-Regional Rumble.
Oberlin College Inter-Regional Rumble Results

The New York University men's cross country team, the defending NCAA Division III National Champions, produced its finest performance of the 2008 season in winning the Inter-Regional Rumble at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH, on Saturday.

Facing a field which included seven nationally-ranked opponents, all listed ahead of the #26-ranked Violets in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Poll, NYU easily outscored in opponents with a 47-point total.

Dickinson College, ranked #16, placed second with 104 points, followed by #20 Ohio Northern University (115 points), #21 St. Lawrence University (133 points), #13 Allegheny College (155 points), and #18 Mount Union College (177 points).

The other two ranked opponents the Violets defeated on Saturday were University Athletic Association rivals #11 Case Western Reserve University (14th place, 399 points) and #6 Carnegie Mellon University (21st place, 588 points).

Overall, 30 teams and 270 runners competed.

"This was the first real test for us against nationally-ranked teams," said NYU head coach Nick McDonough. "This shows that even with a whole new line-up this season we have the depth to compete on the national level."     

McDonough's only returning All-American from last year's squad, senior Jesse Schneider, won the race in a time of 24:43 over the 8,000-meter course. It was Schneider's first real test of the season, following a stretch of nagging injuries.  His only other competition in 2008 was in the team's season-opener at Marist College back on Sept. 5.

"Jesse ran a smart race the whole way," McDonough said. "He went out with the leaders, sat in there until the pack thinned out and then pushed the last mile."

A pair of juniors were next across the tape for the Violets, as Zach Maher (24:56) and Calvin Lee (25:06), finished fifth and 10th, respectively. Sophomore Matt Turlip (14th place, 25:13) and senior Mark Hess (17th place, 25:17) rounded out the Violets' top five.

"We finished in a tight pack, with only 34 seconds separating our top five runners and only 50 seconds separating our top seven," McDonough explained. Sophomore Sebastian Schwelm was sixth for NYU (25:20, 18th place), while freshman Peter Murphy , making his collegiate debut, was the Violets' seventh finisher (25:33, 26th place). "It's very encouraging to see the improvement of our underclassmen."

The NYU youngsters also fared well in the Inter-Regional "unseeded race", as freshman Andrew Zitek  placed second overall (26:05), while a trio of sophomores: Jason Dessalet  (26:28), Matt Palmer (26:44) and Noah MacNeil (26:56), finished fourth, seventh and 17th, respectively.