Outrunning The Competition

Peter Caty/the Mirror

The Fairfield men’s cross country team outran plenty of competition this past weekend at the Meet of Champions hosted by Iona College.

The Stags placed an impressive 13th overall finish, at the 16th Annual Br. John “Paddy” Doyle/Iona College Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park.

Benjamin Heslin ’11 (Kensington, Conn.) had an especially great race, as he was the first Stag to cross the finish line.

He finished the 8K in a time of 26:10.95 to place 39th overall out of 207 runners.

Not only did he finish high among the competition, he also recorded the fastest time ever by a Stag at Van Cortlandt Park. The previous best was 26:34.0 set by Ian MacNeill at the 1996 MAAC Championship.

A rookie Stag who performed well above expectations was Howie Rosas ’14 (Chestnut Ridge, N.J.) who recorded the second-fastest Fairfield performance ever at Van Cortlandt Park, finishing with a time of 26:18.08 to place 55th overall.

Other impressive finishers were Matt Brunelle ’12 (Oakham, Mass.), rookies Brian Cleary ’14 (Ridgewood, N.J.), John Lobo ’14 (Baltimore, Md.) and Kyle Short ’12 (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

Brunelle, Cleary, Lobo and Short all posted all-time top-20 times by Fairfield runners at Van Cortlandt. Brunelle finished in 26:36.05, Cleary in 26:48.23, Lobo in 26:55.13 and Short in 27:09.81.

These top finishers were followed by their fellow Stag teammates who helped add depth to the already impressive line up.

Vin Ferrer ’12 (Belford, N.J.) ran a time of 27:50.94 while Greg Chase ’13 (Bristol, Conn.) finished in 28:00.95. Dylan Fisher ’12 (Peterborough, N.H.) finished in a time of 29:33.23 while Ernie Lustenring ’12 (Massapequa, N.Y.) finished in 29:51.75.

The Stags will host the Fr. Victor F. Leeber, S.J. Invitational this Saturday. Both the men’s and women’s side hope to keep up the momentum and continue to improve as their season continues.