BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Pratt Institute men's and women's cross country teams swept their head-to-head matchups at the Cannoneer Challenge on Wednesday morning at Prospect Park. The women went 4-0 with victories over Medgar Evers College (23-32), Baruch College (24-31), John Jay College (26-29), and Saint Elizabeth University (17-40), while the men defeated Medgar Evers (21-36) and Saint Elizabeth (15-50).
Sophomore Melis Kavlicoglu (Reno, Nev.) captured the women's individual title in a thrilling finish, clocking 17:51.5 over the 4-kilometer course to edge Medgar Evers sophomore Brianna Lindo (17:52.8) by just 1.3 seconds at the tape. First-year Merin Kauffman (Lancaster, Pa.) followed close behind in third place at 18:07.6, while sophomore Maria Bustamante (The Woodlands, Texas) rounded out a strong front pack for the gold-and-black by taking sixth in 19:08.5. Skylah Nix of John Jay finished fourth in 18:45.3.
Sophomore Milla Tenenblat (Hillsborough, Calif.) took 14th in 24:35.6, and first-year Robin Perles (Pottstown, Pa.) placed 21st in 26:41.2 to seal the scoring in all four dual victories for the Cannoneers. Senior Cici Liu (Calabasas, Calif.) also finished for Pratt in 31:24.6.
In the 4K men's race, first-year Peter Burnham (Duxbury, Mass.) paced the Cannoneers with a runner-up finish in 15:16.7. Brandon Walker of Medgar Evers took first place in 15:00.5.
Pratt controlled the rest of the top five to secure its two team victories. Sophomore Jackson Brock (Vicenza, Italy) claimed third place in 16:03.7, followed by sophomore Elijah Fermaint (Orlando, Fla.) in fourth at 16:21.9 and first-year Kwan Huang (Shenzhen, China) in fifth at 17:48.7. Senior Thomas Prendergast (Bayport, N.Y.) took seventh in 18:02.0 and sophomore Benjamin Labee (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished 10th in 19:44.4, while first-year Deshawn Watkins (Brentwood, N.Y.) placed 11th in 19:45.3.
The Cannoneers return to the course on Saturday, October 10, traveling to Newark, N.J., for the NJIT Invitational at Branch Brook Park. Race time is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
