PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Berthiaume '24 & Adia Grogan '22
STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College hosted the 2023 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's & Women's Cross Country Championships on the campus course on Saturday. The St. Joe's men claimed the program's first-ever GNAC Championship with 44 points in the 8K race while the SJC women finished eighth with 172 team points in the 6K event.
The SJC men edged defending champion Norwich University, which registered 55 points and was forced to settle for the runner-up trophy, while Colby-Sawyer College (64 points), Regis College (120), and Lasell University (130) rounded out the top five. University of Saint Joseph (131), Emmanuel College (184), and Dean College (195) wrapped up the list of eight full squads while New England College, Rivier University, and Mitchell College fielded incomplete teams in the 2023 conference event.
SJC sophomore Jacob Pelletier (Augusta, Maine) won the event with a 27:54.7 performance and beat out University of Saint Joseph junior Braeden Laframboise, who toured the 8K course in 28:08.2, by 14 seconds. Pelletier, the third St. Joe's men's runner to win the conference meet, also earns GNAC Runner and Rookie of the Year accolades with the effort. Ryan Prescott '09, who won the GNAC's twice (2007, 2008), and current assistant coach Troy Hendricks '22, who claimed the title last fall, are the two other Monks to top the conference field.
Overall, four SJC runners claimed All-Conference honors after posting top-14 times in the 2023 event. Junior Ryan Graham (Hopkinton, N.H.) placed sixth (28:57.8) to join Pelletier on the First Team while sophomore Alexey Seredin (Peaks Island, Maine) was eighth (30:04.9) and senior Nick Carmosino (Acton, Mass.) placed 13th (30:50.9) to secure Second Team All-Conference honors.
For Saint Joseph's, today's championship counts as the Monks' first men's cross country title since the 1987 squad won the 1987 NCAA New England Regional Championship. Prior to this afternoon, the program's top finish in the GNAC's was the runner-up spot, which was achieved in 2007 and 2013.
THE RUNDOWN:
- Freshman Tyler Wright (Chatham, Mass.) finished 16th with a 30:55.7 time
- Freshman Diamond Doe (Pawtucket, R.I.) placed 23rd with a 32:17.2 performance
- First-year Emilson Zocolo (Lewiston, Maine) was 27th (32:30.7)
- Junior Ethan Shaw (Scarborough, Maine) finished 33rd (33:22.1)
- Junior Jobet Tardiff (Windham, Maine) placed 46th (35:10.3)
- Freshman Colin Brown (Hardwick, Mass.)raced to a 63rd place finish (38:13.3)
- Freshman Christopher Godefroy (Windsor Locks, Conn.) was 66th (39:01.6)
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's closes out the 2023 campaign with an appearance in the NCAA DIII East Regional Championship, which will be hosted at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds (N.H.) on Saturday, November 11th.
