The Stony Brook men’s and women’s cross country teams are hungry to defend their America East (AE) championship crowns.
Each team appeared at No. 12 in the most recent NCAA Division I Cross Country Northeast Region U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason rankings. The women, who are no stranger to success, aim to collect their seventh-straight title, while the men are vying to make a little noise of their own on the quest towards their second-straight AE championship in program history.
The men return the 2012 individual champion, junior Eric Speakman, who topped all runners with an 8k time of 25:11.43, 10.74 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Speakman has been a leader of the pack since his rookie year in 2011, in which he finished third in the AE championship to earn a spot at No. 16 in the Top-20 Championship Times. Speakman is joined by fellow runner senior Dan Dennis, who finished 5th in last year’s meet. The duo is accompanied by 16 other returners who are eager to repeat the 2012 season.
Despite the loss of its top two runners, Cory Sinotte (2nd) and Daniel Decrescenzo (6), New Hampshire is hopeful for the 2013 season. Leading the way for the Wildcats, are junior John Prizzi and senior Joseph Jourdain, who finished the league meet 12th and 18th, respectively, in the 2012 season.
UMBC returns a solid squad of runners, including five who finished in the top-20 in the AE championship last year. Among those Retrievers, Brendan McGee may very well contend with Stony Brook’s Speakman for the number one spot, as he was the seventh runner to cross the finish line in last year’s meet, as several of those runners between them have graduated.
Similar to the Wildcats, Albany also experiences the loss of its two best runners in Ethan Clary (4th) and Aliaksandr Leuchanka (10th). The Great Danes still have junior Chris Buchanan to look to as he placed 11th in the championship last year, missing a top-10 finish by 0.49 seconds.
Maine is fortunate enough to bring back seasoned veterans Kelton Cullenberg and Ryan Hardiman. Cullenberg will prove to be a threat to Speakman as he finished just two spots behind him in third. The Black Bears will look to the leadership of the Culleberg-Hardiman tandem to help the team continue to move up in the ranks.
The host institution of the 2013 America East championship, Binghamton, enters the season on its top dollar. After red shirting its top runners and battling injuries for the past two years, the Bearcats are ready for another year like 2009, in which they were crowned the AE men’s cross country champions. Senior Jeff Martinez returns to the trails after redshirting in 2011 and battling injuries throughout the 2012 season. Eager for another victory, Martinez and four other seniors will lead the way with their eyes on the prize.
Vermont suffers the loss of their top runner Ethan McBrien, who crossed the line eighth overall in the conference meet. The Catamounts look to improve their season after a seventh-place finish at the AE championship in 2012.
With second-year Stephen Walsh at the helm with help from senior Andrew Dwyer (9th), Hartford will work to climb back up the ladder. In 2012, Walsh coached a team that, despite an eighth-place finish at the league meet, earned three All-Conference honors.
A newcomer to America East, UMass Lowell has recently joined the DI ranks in all of their athletics; however, the River Hawks’ cross country team has been competing against DI teams for over a decade in preparation for their conference championships. Top returning runners include senior Ben Pare, junior Matt Cioe, and sophomore Padraic Donovan. The cross country teams will be the first to compete in an AE championship for the River Hawks.
This weekend kicks off with a Pre-Conference meet at Binghamton on Saturday, September 7th, in which several AE teams will compete. The Bearcats are also slated to host the 2013 AE Conference Championship on Saturday, November 2nd.