Colby-Sawyer Sweeps GNAC Cross Country Championships

Colby-Sawyer Sweeps GNAC Cross Country Championships
Posted: Nov 02, 2019

STANDISH, Maine – Colby-Sawyer College claimed a pair of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) titles on Saturday, as the Chargers' men's and women's teams earned 2019 GNAC Cross Country Championships with 56 and 44 points, respectively, at Saint Joseph's College on Saturday afternoon.

Colby-Sawyer featured three runners in the top four overall, as seniors Peter Bakker (26:47) and Ben Jones and junior Liam Fleming finished second through fourth to help the Chargers edge four-time defending GNAC Champion Norwich University by just three points.

Suffolk University sophomore Matyas Csiki-Fejer claimed the individual victory with an SJC course-record time of 26:40, nine seconds faster than the effort posted by James Vance (JWU) in the 2010 GNAC Championship. Csiki-Fejer's performance was just the fifth sub-27 minute time at the SJC course in the last 12 years. Colby-Sawyer's Bakker also broke the course record with a 26:47 time.

Norwich placed three runners in the top-11 overall and finished as the runner-up with 59 points while Suffolk placed third (72), Saint Joseph's was fourth (93), and Emmanuel College rounded out the top five teams with 135 points.

Regis College (159), Johnson & Wales University (192), Lasell University (202), and University of Saint Joseph (213) closed out the 2019 GNAC Championship team standings. Rivier University also competed in the conference meet, but did not field enough runners to notch a team finish.

For Saint Joseph's, sophomore Troy Hendricks (Hiram, Maine) finished fifth with a 27:21 time, sophomore Jacob Huberdeau (Plaistow, N.H.) placed 17th (29:18), and freshman Ricky Reyes (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) was 19th (29:20). Junior Michael Mason (East Bridgewater, Mass.) raced to a 22nd place finish (29:25) and junior Brandon Whitlock (Westbrook, Maine) finished 31st with a 30:12 effort.

FIRST TEAM ALL-GNAC (top seven finishers):

Matyas Csiki-Fejer, Suffolk
Peter Bakker, Colby-Sawyer
Ben Jones, Colby-Sawyer
Liam Fleming, Colby-Sawyer
Troy Hendricks, Saint Joseph's
Jon Pedersen, Regis
Adam Saucier, Norwich

SECOND TEAM ALL-GNAC (8th – 14th place finishers):

Erik Brobst, Emmanuel
Kyle Hajj, Emmanuel
Zachary Bergeron, Norwich
Trenton Shimata, Norwich
Hunter Toyoda, Suffolk
Nathaniel Stucky, Norwich
Cole Bolduc, Suffolk

MAJOR AWARDS:

TEAM CHAMPION: Colby-Sawyer College (56 pts)

RUNNER-UP: Norwich University (59 pts)

GNAC RUNNER OF THE YEAR: Matyas Csiki-Fejer (Suffolk), 26:40

GNAC ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Cole Bolduc (Suffolk), 28:44 (14th)

GNAC COACH OF THE YEAR: TBA*

GNAC SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM: TBA*

 

GNAC ALL SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM:

Liam Fleming, Colby-Sawyer
Nick Eline, Emmanuel
Nicholas Pereira, Johnson & Wales
Matt Holden, Lasell
Andrew Turner, Norwich
Gustavo Novelle-Ruddy, Regis
Yash Jagtap, Rivier
Alex Gillissen, U. of Saint Joseph
Jacob Huberdeau, Saint Joseph's
Hunter Toyoda, Suffolk

 

*Awards to be announced by the conference after votes have been counted

 

#GOMONKS

 

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Founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine, Saint Joseph’s College is Maine’s Catholic liberal arts college in the Mercy tradition. We are inclusive of all faiths, including no faith. The 474-acre campus, located on the shore of Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and a Division III athletic program to a population of approximately 1,000 on-campus students. A pioneer of distance education since the 1970s, the College also provides online certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees for thousands more working adults who reside in more than 20 other countries. In 2015 the College was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive its Community Engagement Classification, highlighting the College’s focus on community service throughout its mission and daily interactions within local, regional, and global communities. In 2018, Princeton Review recognized SJC as one of its “Green Colleges” for its sustainability initiatives. Learn more at www.sjcme.edu.