Army West Point Athletics
Youth Lead Men's Cross Country at BR Jasper Inv.
September 11, 2015 | Men's Cross Country
BRONX, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's cross country team came away from the BR Jasper Invitational splitting its four dual meets aided by performances from the plebes on Friday.
The Black Knights defeated Hofstra (15-45) and Manhattan (20-37) while falling to Ivy League powers Columbia (50-15) and Cornell (50-15). All five of the runners that factored into Army's score are underclassmen, including three plebes.
"All in all, while we didn't win as many of the duals as we would've liked, it wasn't a surprise given our reliance on our young people to make things happen," said Army's director of track and field and cross country Mike Smith. "That's just part of the game here is being patient with the development of our plebes. If we're counting on them to be in our top-five, it's going to be a process. We're patient with the process and we're going to work hard. They have a good attitude and are ready to keep pushing, and I think they will get a lot better here in the next few weeks as they adapt to things."
Leading that group of youngsters was Mikey Singer. The plebe from Eldersburg, Md., finished the 6K race in 20th place with a time of 19:47.5. A pair of sophomores followed Singer for the Black Knights as Ryan Smathers and Nick Causey finished 25th and 28th, respectively. Smathers finished the race in 19:57.4 while Causey finished in 20:00.5. Smathers made the greatest improvement on the team from the Maine meet, cutting 11.7 seconds off of his average mile time. Two more plebes wrapped up the top-five for the Cadets with Zach Brehm finishing 34th in 20:13.0, followed closely by Garrett Plant who was less than a second behind him.
"I thought Mikey Singer did a great job," commented Smith. "He's only been training since he got out of Beast on Aug. 10, and he got up there in the top pack of Cornell guys and competed with them as long as he could. He's a good competitor and was backed up by some of our other young guys in Nick Causey, Ryan Smathers and Zach Brehm. Those guys are all young and pointed toward the future."
That future will continue in two weeks on Friday, Sept. 25, when the men's cross country team heads up to Boston for the Beantown Challenge starting at 3:30 p.m.
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The Black Knights defeated Hofstra (15-45) and Manhattan (20-37) while falling to Ivy League powers Columbia (50-15) and Cornell (50-15). All five of the runners that factored into Army's score are underclassmen, including three plebes.
"All in all, while we didn't win as many of the duals as we would've liked, it wasn't a surprise given our reliance on our young people to make things happen," said Army's director of track and field and cross country Mike Smith. "That's just part of the game here is being patient with the development of our plebes. If we're counting on them to be in our top-five, it's going to be a process. We're patient with the process and we're going to work hard. They have a good attitude and are ready to keep pushing, and I think they will get a lot better here in the next few weeks as they adapt to things."
Leading that group of youngsters was Mikey Singer. The plebe from Eldersburg, Md., finished the 6K race in 20th place with a time of 19:47.5. A pair of sophomores followed Singer for the Black Knights as Ryan Smathers and Nick Causey finished 25th and 28th, respectively. Smathers finished the race in 19:57.4 while Causey finished in 20:00.5. Smathers made the greatest improvement on the team from the Maine meet, cutting 11.7 seconds off of his average mile time. Two more plebes wrapped up the top-five for the Cadets with Zach Brehm finishing 34th in 20:13.0, followed closely by Garrett Plant who was less than a second behind him.
"I thought Mikey Singer did a great job," commented Smith. "He's only been training since he got out of Beast on Aug. 10, and he got up there in the top pack of Cornell guys and competed with them as long as he could. He's a good competitor and was backed up by some of our other young guys in Nick Causey, Ryan Smathers and Zach Brehm. Those guys are all young and pointed toward the future."
That future will continue in two weeks on Friday, Sept. 25, when the men's cross country team heads up to Boston for the Beantown Challenge starting at 3:30 p.m.
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Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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