Felician Athletics - 9/19/08 MEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY - Vander Wiele Shines In Collegiate Debut

HOLMDEL, N.J. -- Felician College freshman James Vander Wiele (Pequannock, NJ) finished 32nd out of 160 entrants in his collegiate debut during the men's race at the Monmouth University Cross-Country Invitational on Friday evening at Holmdel Park. Nine of the 12 participant schools were members of NCAA Division I.

Vander Wiele traversed the 8,000-meter course, well-known for its steep hills, in 27 minutes, 50 seconds. That time was more than a minute better than any Felician runner ran the same race a year ago, and 46 seconds faster than his closest teammate, sophomore Jay Rodgers (Westmont, NJ) (28:36), who finished 56th.

The three non-Division I schools were scored separately from their D-I counterparts. Felician finished second in the D-II/III standings, ahead of Delaware Valley College and behind Lock Haven University. Vander Wiele ended up in eighth place and Rodgers ninth among the D-II/III competitors. Also scoring for Felician were junior Brad Schepise (Milltown, NJ) (28:39, 57th-10th), senior Alex Wright (Hamburg, NJ) (28:49, 68th-11th), and freshman John Wambui (Kenya) (28:59, 74th-12th).

Quinnipiac University won the Division I team title and Richard Klauber of Quinnipiac was the individual winner (26:30).

Complete Results