Geneseo cross country takes on the Yellowjacket Invitational
Photo courtesy of Geneseo Knights
After dominating the Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational on Saturday, the SUNY Geneseo men’s and women’s cross country teams both claimed first-place finishes, landing them in the USTFCCCA preseason rankings.
On Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, both the women’s and the men’s cross country teams at SUNY Geneseo attended the Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational at Genesee Valley Park. There were 24 teams present at the invitational, including the SUNY Geneseo team.
Because of their hard work and dedication to the sport, both the women’s and the men’s teams took first place at the invitational. This win does not come as a shock though, as both teams secured spots in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason poll.
On the women’s team, the Knights had seven athletes finish in the overall top 20 for the event. Senior Ann Brennan took second place with a time of 21:59.4. Sophomore Ari Reback took seventh at 22:40.3, followed by senior Sierra Doody, freshman Kaitlyn Hotaling, and junior Jillian O'Rourke taking ninth through eleventh place respectively, all finishing with insanely close times at 22:47.3, 22:47.8, and 22:48.2. Freshman Alexa Kosier, junior Shelby Boise, and freshman Katie Bauman finished 15th through 17th completing Geneseo’s sweep for top 20 players.
The men’s team had similar success, with junior Collin Brown taking fourth place with a time of 25:20.8. Not far behind was freshman teammate Ian Zehnder, who crossed the line with a time of 25:21.3. Sophomores Thomas Blake, Owen Murphy, and Ethan Becker all finished in the top 20, taking 15th, 17th, and 20th, respectively. Senior Andrew Cox and freshman Mario Verruto rounded out the leaders for Geneseo, finishing at 26:18.7 and 26:19.2.
The men’s team was led by Dan Moore, Head Cross Country/Assistant Track & Field Coach, and Chris Popovici, Head Track & Field/Assistant Cross Country Coach.
Both teams will head to Roberts Wesleyan University for the Harry F. Anderson Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. This meet will hopefully yield similar results, and we wish the best of luck to both of Geneseo’s cross country teams.
Another upcoming event for the track and field team at Geneseo will be a track and field clinic that is open to high school students and coaches, scheduled to take place on Nov. 8, 2025. There will be four different segments that will focus on different areas of track and field, giving high school teams an opportunity to learn from Geneseo XC’s proven skill and expertise.
The first segment will include sprints with acceleration drills and block setup, hurdles with warm-up sets, pole vault, and warm-up drills. The second will include sprints with maximum velocity mechanics, hurdles with step pattern development, pole vault with approach and takeoffs, and throwing with weight room programming.
The third segment will include weight throw with rotational drills, long jump with drills for takeoff, and a coaches question and answer section on periodization. The last segment will include shotput with concepts and drills, triple jump with phase transitions, and high jump with approach running.
For more information on this camp or to register for the event, feel free to visit the Geneseo Track Camp website.