GALLOWAY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The New Jersey City University men's cross country team finished 11th out of 21 teams at the Osprey Open in Galloway, N.J., topping two rivals from the New Jersey Athletic Conference: Rutgers-Newark (16th) and Rutgers-Camden (17th), as well as eight other teams including two Division II programs on September 21. This was the first time the NJCU men's cross country team has topped an NJAC opponent since October, 2015.

"The men ran a quality race today," head coach Patrick O'Neill said. "With the large field of teams the first mile went out really fast, and they did a great job of adapting to the pace."
 
Leading the way for NJCU, once again, was freshman standout Jose Recinos (Union City, NJ/Union City) who finished in 72nd with a time of 28:35.36. 
 
The Knights had a dozen total harriers on the day, with three freshmen, a senior, and a sophomore debutant making up their top five: Jaime Tlatelpa (Jersey City, NJ/University Academy Charter) in 85th (29:04.50), Muhammed Jawneh (South River, NJ/South River) (30:31.14), Jaskirt Singh (31:14.60), and Samuel Colon III (Newark, NJ/Eagle Academy) (31:36.55).

"Specifically Jose and Jaime had a breakout race and worked well together in the 1-2 spot," O'Neill explained. "Newcomer Jaskirt Singh really stepped up big for us today as well. Finally, despite taking a nasty fall early in the race Sam got back in it and fought his way back up."
 

UP NEXT:

NJCU has a weekend to recuperate, before it next heads to Newark, N.J. on October 5 for the 16^th Annual Highlander XC Challenge, at 10:00 a.m. for another 8K.

 
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