MILTON, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's and women's cross country squads competed at the 2022 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championships today, Saturday, Nov. 5, and both programs saw a multitude of success. The NJCU men took home third place overall, while the women were led individually by the third-place finisher out of 57 competitors.

Starting off with the women's 6K championship race, senior Grace Sabaya (Jersey City, N.J./Dickinson) — running in just the second collegiate event of her cross country career — was only four seconds off her strong performance from last weekend's New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship with a time of 26:29.70 today to place third overall out of the 57 competing runners.

For the Gothic Knight men, seven runners took part in the 8K championship race, which was made up of a field of 86 runners. Together, the Green and Gold squad combined for a third-place finish out of 13 scoring teams, just a handful of points back from the second-place spot. Leading the way was senior Jaime Tlatelpa (Jersey City, N.J./University Academy Charter), who placed 13th overall with a time of 29:43.20.

Behind Tlatelpa were three more Gothic Knights that all finished in the top 30 on the day. Junior Topu Saha (Jersey City, N.J./William L. Dickinson) crossed the finish line with a time of 30:55.80 to place 22nd, followed by senior Denilson Lopez (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) in 26th place with a time of 31:34.90. Junior Jake Sisk (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) also placed 29th overall with a time of 32:06.30. The other three runners to compete on the day for Jersey City were freshmen Josue Palau (Elizabeth, N.J./Dwyer Tech) and David Velez (Elizabeth, N.J./Alexander Hamilton Prep), as well as senior Adnan Kpodo (Irvington, N.J./Irvington). They finished 32nd, 34th and 38th with times of 32:32.20, 32:40.80 and 32:46.70, respectively. 

Up Next:
This event was the last for the Gothic Knights in preparation for the 2022 NCAA Division III Metro Region Championships, which will be hosted in Center Valley, Pa., on the campus of DeSales University on Saturday, Nov. 12. Both NJCU squads already had the chance to work out the kinks on the regional championship course when competing in the DeSales Invitational back on Oct. 8.