The men’s and women’s cross country teams have begun their postseasons with impressive performances at the SUNYAC Cross Country Championships. Hosted by SUNY Oswego, the competition took place Nov. 2, where the women placed third out of 10 teams for the second time in program history, while the men placed fourth out of 10 teams for the second time since 2018.
“Both of our teams put together a solid performance at the SUNYAC Championship last weekend. We moved up four places on the women’s side with our third-place team finish. On the men’s side we moved up four places to fourth place in team scoring,” said head coach Thomas Hartnett Jr. “Evan Miller’s second-place finish was the highest individual finish in the history of the men’s program. Miller topped a previous program record best finish of fourth set by Mike Scher back in 2014. Along with Miller, we had three other All-SUNYAC recipients, including Orquidea Briceno, Marcella Candlin and Gavin Bowers.”
Briceno was the first Hawk to cross the finish line, completing the race with a final time of 24 minutes and 29.6 seconds. Her performance earned her fifth place overall, as well as first-team All-SUNYAC selection and induction into the SUNYAC Hall of Fame for being one of the top five finishers.
“Placing first at this meet is a true testament to how focused we were as a program. We all performed very strongly and persevered through the race,” said Briceno. “Nothing feels better than being recognized for your hard work. This is just one of many victories to come as we continue to build momentum heading into the closing stretch of the season.”
Candlin, the fourth-year captain for the women’s team, was the second Hawk to complete the race, coming in sixth overall with a time of 24 minutes and 32 seconds. Her performance earned second-team All-SUNYAC selection for placing within the top 10 finishers. On the men’s side, Miller was the first Hawk, second overall to cross the finish line and set a record for the best performance in a SUNYAC championship in program history. He accomplished a time of 26 minutes and 51.9 seconds, earning a silver medal, first-team All-SUNYAC selection and induction into the SUNYAC Hall of Fame. Bowers followed Miller, placing 12th overall with a time of 27 minutes and 33.7 seconds, earning third-team All-SUNYAC selection.
“As we look ahead to the NCAA regional, we will begin tapering our running in order to achieve our best performances of the season,” said Hartnett. “We will travel just 16 of our 23 total roster to compete in the championships. We have multiple members of the team looking to advance past the regional round to the national championship meet on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana.”
Both the men and women will compete in the NCAA DIII Mideast Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 16. The meet will be hosted by Connecticut College in Waterford, CT, and the qualifying runners will proceed to compete at the National Championships on Nov. 23.