FLUSHING, N.Y. – The 2023 Queens College men's and women's cross country officially gets underway on Friday (Sept. 1) afternoon.
Head coach
Greg Welch will lead the Cross Country program in his second year in charge and will be assisted by
Olga Ladino Romero on the courses.
2022 Recap
Last season both programs placed fifth in the East Coast Conference championship with eight Knights earning a top 50 finish.
While four Knights would earn a trip to the NCAA East Regional Championship.
Women's Roster 2023 Outlook
The women's roster will comprise of nine runners which includes seven returners and two new additions.
Sophomore
Rachel Mow (Esopus, N.Y.) enters her second year with the program and will look to lead from the front as she led the Knights at the NCAA East Regional Championship.
Mow would record a career-best time of 22:25.7 to place 39
th at the ECC Championship 5K race. While in the NCAA East Regional, she placed 113
th with a time of 27:15.0.
Senior
Natalia Cuttler (Islip, N.Y.) returns for her final season after making a NCAA Championship appearance. She would set a new career-best time of 21:30.0 in the NJIT Highlander XC 5K Challenge last season.
Junior
Nicole Colombi (Wantagh, N.Y.) adds experience to the roster having competed in six courses last season with a season-best time of 24:00.0 in the NJIT Highlander XC 5K Challenge.
While senior
Khareena Primus (St. Andrew, Grenada), sophomores
Joy Leong (Brooklyn, N.Y.),
Ashley Rodriguez Perez (Emlhurst, N.Y.), and
Jennifer Salazar (College Point, N.Y.) provide depth and experience among the returners from the 2022 season.
While the addition of sophomore
Madelyn McMath (Carmel, N.Y.) and junior
Shivangi Sharma (Bellerose, N.Y.) will look to add to the 2023 season as Queens looks to improve upon the previous season.
Men's Roster 2023 Outlook
It is a new outlook on the men's side with senior
Anthony Lopez (Ridgefield, N.J.) being the lone returner from the 2022 season to go with six new additions.
Lopez recorded a career-best time of 33:31.0 competing in the NJIT Highlander XC 8K Challenge.
Lopez will be joined by four juniors in
Paulo Criollo (Ambato, Ecuador), Kyle Daniels (Far Rockaway, N.Y.),
Peter Hoffmann (Astoria, N.Y.),
Abdi Mohamed (Fargo, ND), and sophomore
Juanes Esteban Lopez (Flushing, N.Y.)
Rookie
Daniel DeGregori (East Meadow, N.Y.) is the lone freshman on the team. A graduate of East Meadow High School earned All-County honors three times and currently holds the second fastest time for the 5K record at East Meadow High School Record.
East Coast Conference Preseason Poll
On the Women's side, the Knights have been slated to finish sixth, while the men's program has been projected to finish fifth at the ECC Championship.
Roberts Wesleyan University's men's and women's programs are slated to defend their crown once again.
The ECC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday, Oct. 21. Hosted by Roberts Wesleyan, the meet will be held at Matt St. James Cross Country Trails in Rochester, N.Y. for the third consecutive year.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), Instagram (qcknightsny), Cross Country/Track & Field (queensxctf).
