Gradazzi Wins Women's Cross Championship; Women's Team Places 3rd
Huntsville, Ala. - The Reiver XC team traveled to Huntsville Alabama to compete in the 2023 NJCAA National XC/Half Marathon Championships this past week.
It was a historic weekend for the Reivers. The women brought home their first team trophy in XC and in the Half Marathon. It all started in XC where the women finished 3rd overall as a team led by National Champion (FR)Silvia Gradizzi and two other Top 15 performances by (FR) Barabara Neiva 7th and (FR) Angeline Estrada 14th. Silvia Winning the National title marked the 5th time in a row that a Reiver woman has been the National Champion or runner-up following Mercy Biwott's last two runner-ups, and Reiver legend Faith Linga's two titles.
Silvia is just a freshman and dominated the field winning by over 15 seconds taking the lead around the mile mark and never letting it go. (FR)Ayianna Olivas, (SO)Lauren Pierson, and (SO)Jessica Heyen finished out the historic run by the Reiver ladies. All 6 ladies picked the right time to PR!
The men came into the race ranked 5th and they did just that by finishing 5th overall. They were led by (FR)Mohammed Kowa's 10th place finish and (SO)Jacinto Gaspar's 12th place finish. The two All-Americans have been leading the Reivers all year. It was one of the deepest fields up front on the men's side I have seen in a while, Bierbaum said. Finishing out on the guy's side was (FR)Tiago Sabino, (FR)Magnus Herschbach, (FR)Patrick Heffernan, (FR)Joey Hartnett, and (SO)Jose Lara.
The Reivers stayed in Huntsville til Tuesday and ran the NJCAA National Half Marathon Championships. This event is unique to the NJCAA. It is a team scoring event where the top 3 score and the lowest point total win. This marked the first time the Reivers have competed in it in 6 years. The Women came away with their second trophy of the week finishing 2nd in the Half Marathon and Barbara Neive placed 5th finishing All-American for the second time in 4 days and a school record running 1:23.38 over the 13.1 mile course. Angeline Estrada and Ayianna Olivas finished out the scoring team for the Reiver women. Lauren Pierson and Jessica Heyen also completed their first-ever half marathon.
The men fell just short of a top-three finish by 9 points. Jacinto capped off a great week by finishing 4th becoming a two-time All-American and running the 2nd quickest half marathon in school history running 1:06.33. Finishing out the scoring for the Reivers were Mohammed Kowa and Magnus Herschbach. Those men were also followed by Joel Solomon, Joey Hartnett, Jose Lara, and Will Gessman. I was proud of our efforts from both races. Silvia to come in as a freshman and win the Reivers 3rd individual XC Championship in 5 years was incredible. 12 of the 13 who ran in that XC race ran personal bests. That says a lot about our training and determination to compete at the end of the year. We continue to battle for those top spots individually and team-wise which is a testament to this program's work ethic. Next up is Indoor Track Season in January.