Rowan men’s cross country paid a visit to Stockton University for the first time since the NCAA Metro Championships last Saturday, and a sixth-place finish from Colin Patterson led the Profs to a third-place finish out of 16 teams. Patterson’s finish of 25:16.96 was just over nine seconds behind Rutgers-Camden’s Jacob Dinerman, who won the event. The sixth-place finish for Patterson adds on to his impressive season thus far, working off of his win at Salisbury’s season-opening event. 

“I think it’s been an impressive start,” head coach Dustin Dimit said. “We’ve always seen flashes of it with Colin. One of the things we’ve really talked to him about this year is being consistent. You know, he talked about it after where it started getting rough in the middle of the race, and he was able to lock in and hold on to that front pack.”

Matthew Conway followed up Patterson’s performance, placing ninth off his time of 25:27.01. Sean Hice, Scott Hubbard, and Anthony Faust rounded out Rowan’s top-five placers, at 19th, 21st, and 22nd, respectively. 

“It was [Scott Hubbard’s] first race back after getting hurt in indoor track last year, so he missed all of outdoor (track),” Dimit said. “So that was a good start for him to kind of ease back into it. We think he can be a guy that can be up there with Colin and Matt.”

Dan Cota placed 27th, along with Reid Gervasi at 30th, for the Profs’ placeholder finishers.

The race at Stockton was not only the first chance to start using times to qualify for postseason events, but it was also a chance to see some NJAC competition with teams like Rutgers-Camden, TCNJ, and the hosts, Stockton, in the mix.

“I saw that the NJAC is looking really strong this year,” Patterson said. “A lot of good people at the top, TCNJ is going to be a pretty tough opponent this year. It was a lot of the regional (competition) as well with Moravian. It’s nice to see where we are at compared to the other teams.”

Now, Rowan gears up for the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University, one of the biggest cross country events in the country, that will hold different races for the Division I, II, and III levels. The Paul Short Run will take place on Friday, Oct. 3, for the Profs, the third of four total regular-season meets this season. 

“That’s something that, you know, we’ll go into and hope to continue to progress,” Dimit said. “This is a young team. So each week, we’re just looking to get a little bit closer.”

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