Division I Results
Overall Results

BETHPAGE, NY - Freshman Ewelina Marut was the top finisher for the NJIT women's cross country team at its first intercollegiate race of 2009 in the Division I portion of the Hofstra Invitational cross country meet held on the course at Bethpage State Park on Long Island Saturday morning.

Marut, who was a Bergen County division and state sectional champion running in high school at Becton Regional in East Rutherford, NJ, placed 10th among the Division I contingent of her first college race on Saturday. Her time was 21:00.63, which was 14 seconds better than the existing NJIT record for the Bethpage State Park course, formerly held by Megan Higgins.

The other top 20 finishers for the Highlanders on the Division I side were: senior Cara Constantino (17th; 22:09.09) and freshman Christina Roque (20th; 22:41.27). NJIT's other two scorers were: juniors Kelsey Johnson and Daisy Gallegos. Constantino improved by 39 seconds over her 2008 time on the course and Shawntel Young improved by 31 seconds. NJIT improved its overall team average from the 2008 race.

The race also included eight other full teams representing programs from NCAA Division II and III, but those runners were scored separately. There were also unattached runners, as well as runners from schools that did not field full teams.

The overall winner of the women's race was Cherutich Jeptui from Division II NYIT at 18:22.02, while the Division I winner was sophomore Aryon Trujillo of St. John's (19:58.42).

The next competition for the Highlander women will be Saturday in the Fordham Invitational to be contested at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx at starting 10 am.