NEWARK, NJ -- NJIT's men's and women's Cross Country teams hosted the 3rd Annual Alumni Vs. Varsity meet this past Wednesday at Branch Brook park.

The NJIT varsity men's and women's cross country teams enter this year with what could possibly be the best teams ever for both programs.  With almost all of last year's starters returning and a new crop of talented freshmen, the future is bright in Highlander country.  Look for captains Joseph Ju, Christian Baumbach, Amanda Hefferan and Megan Higgins to lead the teams to new records.

The yearly event gave everyone an opportunity to test new racing strategies.  The front of the pack saw many athletes changing positions throughout the course.  Two alumni, David Kloc '08 and Raymond Persaud '10 (top runners from the inaugural varsity team in 2003) were the first two runners to cross the finish line with identical times of 22:56.   The varsity took the next 4 spots consisting of Ju, Moheb Thomas, Dan Sapienza and Pedro Claudio. 

On the women's Side, freshman Breanne Hollenbach was the top finisher for the women with a time of 23:06. She was followed by Amanda Hefferan and Ybrahina Cohen.  The next female finisher was Cara Constantino with a time of 27:39.  Although we use the Highlander Standard 5k course, several freshmen were DQ for going “off course”.

This year's event used a new scoring format of combined men and women finish places.  For the third year in a row the Alumni have won this event.    Alumni scored 10 points to the Varsity's 15 points.  Team with the lowest score wins.

The varsity team is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Bethpage State park for the Hofstra Invitational.