At an elite meet, the new look Drew Rangers Cross Country teams ran well and raised hopes for the upcoming season. Racing under Head Coach Bob Koppenol for the first time, the two Ranger squads competed at the Monmouth Tip-Off Classic against five Division I opponents and the mighty NYU squad as the only other DIII program. A pair of newcomers led the Rangers as first-year Sarah Morris paced the women's team and sophomore transfer Steve Monteleone led the men's squad.

The women competed in a 4K against five Division I squads as well as NYU and Georgian Court. Despite placing third of the three Non-Division I schools, the Rangers had plenty of bright spots beginning with the debut of Sarah Morris. The first-year paced the Rangers with a 17:43 good for 12th place in the division rankings. Ashley Walker finished right on her heals at 17:44 for 13th place. Katherine Cross was the Rangers' third finisher at 18:20. She shaved nearly 12 seconds off her time from this event last season on the same course. Her classmate Carley Thompson can claim an even greater improvement as she knocked forty seconds off her time from last season as she clocked a 19:04 on Saturday. Finally, Angela Vitellaro finished as the Rangers' fifth runner with a time of 22:18 another significant improvement over last season.

On the men's side, sophomore Steve Monteleone introduced himself to the Rangers with a lead runner result in his first event in the Green and Blue. Monteleone ran a 21:15 to placed eighth in the Division III rankings. Freshman Zack Mower took second ahead of junior Andrew Ehlert. Two more freshmen, Tim Barnum and Maxwell Rich, rounded out the Ranger scorers at fourth and fifth, respectively. While the Rangers finished second to NYU, the underclassmen gave provided hope for the rest of the season with their strong starts.

Monmouth Kick-Off - 9/5/2009
Women's Team Scores - 11:03:09 AM
-----------------
Division 1 Scores
-----------------
20 Albany
46 Monmouth
89 Seton Hall
114 LIU
119 Wagner
---------------------
Non-Division 1 Scores
---------------------
16 NYU
47 Georgian Court
79 Drew

Pl Pt Pt Div Entry Time Name School
1 1 1 130 15:08:85 Lauterbach, Ada Albany
52 39 12 175 17:43:13 Morris, Sarah Drew
56 41 13 178 17:44:83 Walker, Ashley Drew
66 45 17 174 18:20:98 Cross, Katherine Drew
73 47 18 176 19:04:37 Thompson, Carley Drew
81 50 19 177 22:18:64 Vitellaro, Angela Drew

Monmouth Kick-Off - 9/5/2009
Men's Team Scores - 10:42:45 AM
---------------------
Division 1 Scores
---------------------
21 Albany
67 Wagner
68 Monmouth
105 LIU
119 Seton Hall
---------------------
Non-Division 1 Scores
---------------------
15 NYU
54 Drew
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pl Pt Pt Div Entry Time Name School
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 1 1 24 19:01:66 Leuchanka, Alex Albany
48 32 8 81 21:15:10 Monteleone, Steve Drew
69 40 9 82 22:39:06 Mower, Zack Drew
79 43 10 79 24:00:44 Ehlert, Andrew Drew
83 47 13 77 24:24:97 Barnum, Tim Drew
84 48 14 84 25:05:10 Rich, Maxwell Drew
87 50 16 78 25:25:53 Del Russo, Greg Drew
88 51 17 80 25:50:97 Kimelblatt, Thomas Drew
90 86 27:54:50 Urcuyo, Michael Drew
91 76 28:21:16 Amin, Jigar Drew
92 85 32:04:12 Simmons, Bruce Drew