Benzer, Appenheimer Claim Canisius Alumni Classic Invitational Titles

Led by individual victories from senior Libby Benzer and junior Tom Appenheimer, the Canisius men's and women's cross country teams posted a pair of second-place finishes in the Canisius Alumni Classic Saturday at Delaware Park in Buffalo, N.Y.

In the women's 5K race, Benzer posted a time of 18:41.5, beating RIT's Katie Cobbs (18:43.9) to the tape by just over two seconds to win her second race of the season. The Orchard Park, N.Y., native picked up her first victory of the campaign at the Little Three Championship back on Sept. 3.

Junior Marissa Silba also turned in a top-10 time for the Blue and Gold, crossing the line at 19:49.0 to claim seventh place.

As a team, the Canisius women took second place with 74 points, edging third-place RIT (78) by four points. Daemen was the team champion, finishing with a team total of 63 points. SUNY Geneseo placed fourth (89) and Niagara took fifth (134).

On the men's side, Appenheimer turned in a time of 25:51.2 over the 8K course to claim the title, more than 20 seconds ahead of the second-place Nick Bauman of SUNY Geneseo (26:13.6).

Senior Michael Peppy (26:28.3) and sophomore Thomson Chew (26:39.1) gave the Golden Griffins a trio of top-10 finishes, with Peppy placing fifth and Chew taking ninth.

The Golden Griffins finished the men's event with 47 points, just three points back of the first-place Knights (44). Little Three rival St. Bonaventure placed third (93) and Nazareth took fourth (104).

Head Coach Nate Huckle's Postrace Comments
"Our front runners were fantastic today. Libby (Benzer) and Tom (Appenheimer) both had excellent races. They're both putting together really strong seasons. Tom is really picking up where he left off in the track season and Libby is putting together one of the best cross country seasons in Canisius history. They're peaking at the right part of season as we're heading into the MAAC Championships.

"As far as the team competition today, we were just one or two athletes away from putting together a really solid top five. We showed some really good things at the Paul Short Invitational two weeks ago and we showed some really good things today. If we can put all of those things together in two weeks at the MAAC championships, we should be ready to roll."

Up Next
Canisius is back in action Oct. 30 when it travels south to Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World for the running of the 2021 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Cross Country Championships. Race time has yet to be announced.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Tom Appenheimer: 5' 9"; Junior

Libby Benzer: 5' 11"; Senior

Max Chew: 5' 9"; Sophomore

Michael Peppy: 5' 11"; Senior

Marissa Silba: 5' 4"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Tom Appenheimer
: 5' 9"; Junior

Libby Benzer
: 5' 11"; Senior

Max Chew
: 5' 9"; Sophomore

Michael Peppy
: 5' 11"; Senior

Marissa Silba
: 5' 4"; Junior