BRONX, NY – The Rowan University men’s and women’s cross country teams opened the season at the Fordham Invitational on Saturday.  The invitational was held at Van Cortlandt Park. 

The Rowan men finished in 14^th place out of 22 schools that included 12 Division I institutions.  The women were 21^st overall.  The University of Pennsylvania won the men’s team title while Princeton University took first place for the women. 

Mike Rivera (jr. Old Tappan, NJ/Northern Valley) was the Profs’ first runner to cross the finish line and the first from Division III.  Rivera was 62^nd with a time of 28:33.  Andrew Vasta (jr. Randolph, NJ/Randolph) came in 107^th (29:38) followed by Dan Ratty (jr. Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) 111^th (29:45).  Completing the team score were Phil Dunn (sr. Mickleton, NJ/Kingsway Reg.) 115^th (29:51) and Eric Thomas 129^th (30:25).

For the women, Angela Patane (jr. Monroeville, NJ/Delsea Reg.) took 118^th (22.20).  Katelyn Sammon (sr. Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) was 147^th (23:01).  Kerry O’Donnell (sr. Toms River, NJ/Toms River E.) and Allison Catenacci (fr. Mullica Hill, NJ/Kingsway Reg.) finished 165^th (23:51) and 166^th (23:52) respectively.  The fifth runner was Liz Guarini (fr. Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) in 167^th place (23:54).

Next week, Rowan returns to Van Cortlandt Park for the New York University Invitational that starts at 9:45 a.m.