New Paltz, NY — After running its first and only home meet Friday, The State University of New York at New Paltz cross country team will have a lengthy trip to Williams College to race in the Purple Valley Classic.

It's the second straight competitive season the program will race at the Mount Greylock High School course in Williamstown, MA, placing 11th out of 19 teams and eighth out of 14 teams in the men's 8K and women's 6K race, respectively, a season ago. 

The Hawks enter the Purple Valley Classic the same way it did in 2019, following its best performance of the season at the New Paltz Invitational. Both the men's and women's team placed first in the men's 8K and women's 6K with 25 and 16 points, respectively. Senior Jake Meyers finished first overall at a time of 27 minutes, 42 seconds, a comfortable 58 seconds ahead of teammate Colin Battersby (28:39.90) and a minute better than the time he had in the New Paltz Invite two years ago.

On the women's side, senior Clara Flores-Reininger (24:50.70) placed first, propelled by lofty experience with the difficult course, while Kate Cochran (24:59.70), who paced the Hawks in its first two races at Vassar College, finished nine seconds behind Flores-Reininger and about two minutes and 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. 

"Our home invite was the first and last time in this season that our New Paltz racers could lose their focus and still place well," said SUNY New Paltz coach Aislinn Ryan. "Our next races are going to be stacked with competition."

Perhaps more impressive was the performance from the remainder of an inexperienced women's team. All eight Hawks placed no worse than 13th out of the 27 runners, with seven in the top-10 and the scoring five all placing in the top six.

"Our freshmen have miles to go before they are a highly decorated team, but that's what we do," said Ryan. "They will get in those miles and training over the years and we will see how their careers unfold. I see a lot of promise in several of them that are still figuring out college life and how to chase after their goals."

It's another increase in competition level for SUNY New Paltz, as it enters its final four races of the regular season. After racing no more than nine teams in its first three races of the year, they will now face nine other men's and 11 other women's programs at Purple Valley, including an Ephs team that has won its first two meets of the year. It's also a race approximately 200 miles away in northwest Massachusetts, making it the second longest out-of-state travel — not including nationals in Louisville, KY — for cross country this year.

"The Purple Valley Classic course is even more difficult than the SportsDome in my opinion; it's technically and mentally difficult," Ryan said. "This is what I love about cross country though: every course puts more experience in your tool box to pull from in later meets."

"Mentally, you just kind of prepare," said Hawks freshman Marcella Candlin, who finished third behind Flores-Reininger and Cochran, of the course. "I'll make a race strategy, and just kind of figure it out in my head before we go into the race and have some set times that I want to hit."

Along with those challenges, according to Ryan, their women's team will be down junior captain Kacey Manzueta and junior Felicia Ojarovsky, while the men's team will hold out juniors Brian Casey and Carlos Vasquez due to lingering injuries. Casey and Vasquez finished fourth and fifth respectively for the Hawks, while Ojarovsky and Manzueta did not finish their races Friday. Meyers, who is recovering from a sprained ankle, is still scheduled to run Saturday.

"They are going to see the toughest competition we have faced yet this year, and it will be a wakeup call that will prepare us further for the future," Ryan said.

"Above all else, we'll have to go out conservatively if the race is that competitive and difficult, and try and maintain positions and finish strong," said Trey Hotaling, who finished seven seconds behind Battersby. "This will be our biggest meet as of yet, and most likely the most competition so far, so it will be more of a challenge for us. But I think fresh off of both our teams wins, we can take that experience and perform."

The Purple Valley Classic is scheduled to begin on Saturday with the women's race at 12 p.m., followed by the men's race at 12:45 a.m.

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