EWING, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's and women's cross country programs competed on the campus of The College of New Jersey today, Saturday, Oct. 29, as the Gothic Knights took part in the 2022 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championships.

On the women's side of things, the Green and Gold placed seventh as a team and were led individually by senior Grace Sabaya (Jersey City, N.J./Dickinson), who made her collegiate debut in cross country. Sabaya placed 30th out of 56 scoring runners in the 6K championship race and 47th out of 101 total runners to finish the event with a time of 26:25.60. Right behind her was fellow women's soccer teammate, senior Arame Diouf (Weehawken, N.J./Memorial). The fourth-year Gothic Knight was competing in just her second-career collegiate cross country event and first of the season and placed 40th with a by-far personal-record time of 28:56.50, with was 68th overall out of the 101 runners.

Just a spot behind Diouf and only 0.3 seconds after was freshman Hailey Goncalves (Union, N.J./Union), who ran a 28:56.80 to place 41st in her collegiate debut, which was 69th overall. Sophomore Nyla Boyd (Thomson, Ga./Thomson) placed 44th with a time of 29:47.20, which was 74th overall. Following her was fellow sophomore Ashley Adames (Jersey City, N.J./County Prep), placing 45th with a personal-best time of 30:46.30, which was 78th overall. The other two Jersey City runners to compete made their collegiate debuts as freshmen Neida Jarana and Dorothy Alcivar () placed 50th and 56th, respectively.

For the men, the Gothic Knights placed fifth overall and junior Jake Sisk (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) led the way individually. He ran a time of 27:42.40 to place 27th out of 55 scoring runners, which was 42nd overall out of 99 competitors to finish on the day. One spot behind him in 28th (43rd overall) was senior Jaime Tlatelpa (Jersey City, N.J./University Academy Charter), who notched a time of 27:46.70. Another junior, Topu Saha (Jersey City, N.J./William L. Dickinson) and he placed 32nd (62nd overall) with a time of 24:14.90.

A trio of Gothic Knights placed 36th, 37th and 38th in senior Denilson Lopez (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth), freshman David Velez (Elizabeth, N.J./Alexander Hamilton Prep) and senior Adnan Kpodo (Irvington, N.J./Irvington), as they ran times of 30:39.10, 30:43.00 and 30:51.80 to place 70th, 71st and 72nd overall, respectively. Freshman Josue Palau (Elizabeth, N.J./Dwyer Tech) placed 41st (78th overall) with a time of 31:32.50 and sophomore Vladimir Pericles (Elizabeth, N.J./Thomas Edison Academy) was 81st overall with a time of 32:37.00.

Up Next:
NJCU returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 5, for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships, which are being hosted at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome in Milton, N.Y.