The University of Rhode Island men’s cross country team faced off in its second meet of the season over the weekend, finishing in second place with 63 points in the 8,200-meter Central Connecticut State University Ted Owens Invitational.
Along with Rhode Island, there were five other teams in the meet. Rhody was led by second-year Jason Padula, who came out of the pack finishing 11th overall with a time of 25:54.00. Right behind him were his teammates, first-year Ryan Kaiser in 12th with a time of 26:01.50 and second-year Maddox Jordan in 13th with a time of 26:02.70.
The last four finishers for Rhode Island were fourth-year Jeremy Roe in 21st with a time of 26:19.20, third-year Brayton Gazerro in 26th with a time of 26:27.00, third-year Jesse Principe in 40th with a time of 27:09.30 and fifth-year Antonio Capalbo in 63rd with a time of 27:48.90.
“It was a low-key meet early in the season,” Padula said. “Definitely a lot of intensity but also just in a relaxed manner.”
Rhody ultimately came up short in New Britain, Connecticut, on Saturday, finishing behind Stony Brook University, who finished in first place with 31 points. Stony Brook’s top runners finished in first, seventh, ninth and 10th before Rhody got their first runner across.
Padula, who is in his first year competing with URI, hopes that this tune-up meet will help him move forward when he takes on a bigger challenge.
“I definitely want to take that same intensity and momentum into practice every single day,” Padula said. “[We are] working together as a group to improve constantly and keep doing the right things.”
Assistant coach Brian Doyle, now in his fifth season with Rhode Island, spoke about the newcomers on the team that shined on Saturday.
“It’s definitely a young group, and for how they did, I think it went great,” Doyle said.
With larger events coming up on the schedule, Doyle said he expects big things from his guys moving forward as the season starts to ramp up.
“Our guys are going to have to take on a completely new challenge moving forward,” Doyle said. “They will be ready for it, but we have to have a different mindset going into a bigger meet.”
URI hopes to build on this tune-up meet as it travels to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to compete in the Paul Short Invitational on Oct 3.
