Clearview’s Anas Bensaoud, a sophomore at Rowan College South Jersey, placed 14th out of more than 100 runners Saturday at the 40th annual DeSales University XC Invitational.
Bensaoud covered the 8,000-meter course in Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County, in 27:17 and was RCSJ’s first finisher. Bensaoud is a transfer from SUNY Stony Brook. Last spring, he earned All-America honors in two events with a 3rd in the 1,500 in 4:03.98 and a 5th in the 3,000 in 15:53.90 at the NJCAA Division 3 National Championships in Utica, N.Y.
According to the TFRRS database, it looks like Bensaoud did not run XC at Stony Brook, he only ran one year of indoor track in 2022, so this is his first year of XC since the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he placed 2nd at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals at DREAM Park behind Southern Regional’s Jackson Braddock, who’s now at Texas.
Rowan College placed 5th in team scoring with 159 points. DeSales won the team title with 28 points. DeSales sophomore Forrest Miller from Triton placed 52nd overall.
For RCSJ in the women’s race, Courtney O’Hara of Gateway placed 26th, freshman Alexandra Campo from Woodbury 44th and Madison O’Donnell from Williamstown 46th. DeSales’ junior Eileen Murphy from Cherry Hill East placed 35th and Hailey Bloom of Atlantic City, a Gwynned Mercy junior, was 42nd.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 