Lions Compete in Metro Race

The Lions are racing at the Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park this Friday and the outlook for both the men’s and women’s squads is good. The Columbia cross country teams are off to a great start this season with both the men’s and the women’s teams placing first in a number of invitational meets. At this weekend’s championships, they will race against local schools, including New York University, Marist, and Rutgers. Last year, each of the Light Blue teams took first place in its respective divisions and the Lions are looking for a repeat of those results.

The men are facing tough competition in their local rivals. Marist College fared well at last weekend’s Iona College Meet of Champions with an especially good performance by junior Girma Segni. NYU is having one of its strongest seasons yet with a record of 3-1, taking first of 19 teams at last weekend’s Connecticut College Invitational in New London.

The Lions will be looking to Dan Whitt and James Bogner, who finished third and fourth, respectively, at the Penn State Invitational this past week.
On the women’s side, the Lions will be looking for a win against Rutgers, who finished 10th place at the Fordham Invitational a few weeks ago. They will also be up against Manhattan College, which is having a strong season, finishing fourth in the Boston University Invitational earlier this month.

The women, who placed second at Penn State, will be looking for strong performances from freshman Jackie Drouin and senior Stephanie Lenihan this weekend. The race will start at 1:30 p.m.