The men’s cross country team ended its season with an eighth place finish at the IC4A Championships in New York on Saturday.
Graduate student Marc Steinsberger finished in sixth overall to lead the Owls.
Steinsberger, who has one more year running for Temple, has led the Owls all season. He was named to the all-conference team when he finished ninth at the conference championships on Oct. 29.
Steinsberger was also in the mix for the all-regional team, but had to forfeit the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Nov. 11 around the four-mile mark when he started experiencing back spasms.
“Having Marc back this weekend was a really good thing for our team and gave us some confidence moving forward,” coach James Snyder said. “It was good seeing him bounce back with a good race yesterday.”
Sophomore Johnathan Condly came in second for the Owls and finished 46th overall.
Condly stepped up to take over the second spot in the lineup when sophomore Ben Evans sustained a season-ending foot injury earlier in the season.
Condly went from finishing 47th at the conference championship and 124th at the regional competition in 2015, to 21st at the conference championship and 85th at the regional competition in 2016.
“I can draw confidence from seeing a guy like Johnathan Condly improve from last year to this year,” Snyder said.
Freshman Kevin Lapsansky finished 57th, sophomore Donovan Mears finished 65th and freshman Justin Yurchak finished 89th to round out Temple’s top five.
With the fall season over, the cross country moves its focus to its spring schedule. After Thanksgiving break, the men begin track & field competition where they compete unaffiliated with the university.
“Once we get back from the break we will start building back into things,” Snyder said. “Our first big meet for them will be the indoor meet at Boston University in February.”
“The freshmen this year are a lot further along than where our freshmen were last year,” Snyder said. “If they can take the step that the sophomore took this year, I think we will be in a really good spot next year.”
Tessa Sayers can be reached at teresa.sayers@temple.edu.
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