Women's Cross Country | 10/30/2016 12:00:00 AM
What a way to close out a college athletic career! Senior
Kaitlin Hicks, captain of the John Jay women's cross country team, ran her final conference race for the Bloodhounds in fine style on Sunday, October 30, as she dominated a field of runners to win the CUNY Athletic Conference Women's Championship.
Hicks ran essentially unchallenged from the opening gun over the 6-kilometer course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Along with a strong supporting cast of teammates, she sprang quickly into the lead and led the 80-runner field by 30 seconds after the first kilometer, nearly a minute at the one-mile marker, and roughly 90 seconds after four kilometers. Her winning time of 24:58 was 59.7 seconds faster than that of the runner-up, allowing her to cruise across the finish line with a wide smile and arms raised in victory.
Over the course of her John Jay career, Hicks has finished third in the 2013 CUNYAC championships, second in 2014, and second again in 2015. Only one spot remained for her to claim, which she did to wild cheering from family, friends and fans.
As a team, the women runners finished a solid second behind the winning squad from Hunter College. In addition to Hicks, three runners turned in medal-winning performances and were named CUNYAC All-Stars.
Margie Perez finished in ninth place in a time of 28:33,
Michelle Formato was just seconds behind her in 10th place, in 28:41, and
Maxine Eisenberg finished 12th, in 28:51. Also racing for the Bloodhounds were
Athena Avoustidis (29th, 31:17) and
Ilham Nagi-Hamed (54th, 34:59).
"The women's championship meant a great deal to our program at John Jay," said head coach
Tony Phillips. "We got to see
Kaitlin Hicks, the most decorated athlete in our program, go out on top by dominating the 6K championship and winning the race by one minute! Kaitlin led a trio of her teammates to race to medals. They did an incredible job and finished a very strong second to Hunter."
Next up for John Jay cross-country will be the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday, Nov. 5, hosted by Mount Saint Mary College at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome in Milton, N.Y.
