The Maccabees this season, for the first time in program history, enter as defending conference champions as Yeshiva won its first-ever women’s cross country title when it won the 2013 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) championship race. Furthermore, the Maccabees are coming off a third-place finish at the competitive Skyline Conference championship race.
This season, with a good portion of key returnees along with a talented crop of newcomers, 2014 could be another season to remember for Yeshiva University women’s cross country.
The 2014 team welcomes back key returnee Stephanie Greenberg. Last season, Greenberg was Yeshiva’s top finisher in all races last year, and was a top-three finisher in four of the team’s five invitationals a season ago. She was a top-10 finisher in all races, never finishing lower than ninth in any race. She was the overall top finisher at the CCNY Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park last season, blazing the six kilometer course in 25:29. Her top-five kilometer time was 19:26, en route to a third-place overall finish at the HVIAC championship race. She was named an HVIAC All-Conference selection, and was the first Yeshiva women’s cross country team member to ever earn a spot on the All-Skyline team when she was named to the second team last season.
Also back this season is Sarah Lazarus. Last season Lazarus had a personal best time of 22:36 at the HVIAVC championship race. Another returnee is Shoshana Mond, whose personal best last season was a 25:55 showing at the NJIT Halloween Run last November. Another key returnee is Rena Thomas. Thomas turned in a personal best 21:52 at last year’s HVIAC championship race. Also back this season is Teaneck’s own, Rebecca van Bemmelen, whose personal best time was 23:14 at the HVIAC race.
The Yeshiva women’s cross country team got off to a fast start in 2014 as the Maccabees finished a very impressive second place of 11 teams at the Baruch College Invitational on Sunday morning (September 7th) at Van Cortlandt Park. While finishing second, the Maccabees were first among NCAA Division III schools. The winning team was Monroe College, an NJCAA Division I program. Monroe earned a score of 30 to win the meet, while Yeshiva earned a score of 59 in the runner-up spot.
For Yeshiva, Stephanie Greenberg was the team’s top finisher and was second overall of 85 runners in 26:34 over six kilometers. Laurel Aaronson was second on Yeshiva and eighth overall in 28:04. Lyndsey Pere was third for Yeshiva, while finishing tenth in the race in 28:33. Yeshiva’s fourth finisher was Shoshana Mond who was 25th overall in 30:39. Rebecca van Bemmelen rounded out the top-five for Yeshiva and was 28th in the race in 30:50.
Yeshiva will be back at Van Cortlandt Park next Sunday, September 14, for the Queensborough Community College Invitational at 10 a.m.
By Yumacs.com
