Cross Country Wins 2019 Bruce Bridgeman Invitational
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – The Finger Lakes Community College Cross Country teams competed in the Bruce Bridgeman Invitational on Saturday on their home course. The Men's team took first place, while a Laker finished first in the 8k race.
This was the first race for the Lakers this season. They started out on their own course, which looked to be an advantage for the team. No Women competed in this race, but the Men came out on top.
The Men's team took first place with 55 total points. They had finishers come in first, eighth, 14th, 15th, 17th, 23rd, and 24th places. First place belonged to Freshman Hunter Brignall. Brignall finished the 8k race in 28:26.87 minutes. He was almost a full minute ahead of the second place finisher from SUNY Broome Community College.
"Today I really wanted the win, and I was going to hopefully let the time take care of itself," said Brignall about his performance. "The course today was a tough one, but I have raced on it a little bit in high school. So it wasn't anything I wasn't too familiar with."
When talking about what he's looking forward to as the season progresses Brignall said, "I'm looking forward to my upcoming races. I've got some competition coming up, but I'm hoping I can place in Regionals and Nationals."
There is a whole new coaching staff for the Cross Country teams this year, Head Coach Jayden Donahue, and Assistant Coach Sim Covington Jr. They were overjoyed with how their team raced.
"I felt extremely excited for myself, and my head coach" said Assistant Coach Covington Jr. "For us to now be here, and to win both the individual, and the team, I think that this is record breaking."
Coach Donahue had some words he shared as well. "This is a really strong crew of guys. They turned out to be great teammates, they worked really hard in practice, and they really deserved this," said Donahue. "I look forward to what the season holds, and I look forward to hosting both the Conference and Regional Championships later on in the fall."
Both Coach Donahue and Covington Jr. wanted to reach out and thank each and every staff member that came out to not only support their teams, but volunteered to help make the day run as well as it did.
Coach Convington Jr. also wanted to give a shout-out in regards to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. "Something that I'm extremely proud about is that we have a female Athlete Director. Under her leadership, we have been able to be successful here at the college."
Coaches Donahue and Covington Jr. are actively looking for more members to be a part of this winning team. So if there are any interested athletes, please contact them.
The Lakers will run their second race of the season on Saturday, September 14th. They will be running at the Yellow Jacket Invitational at the University of Rochester.
