Cross Country

2024 #AEXC Championship Set For Saturday

BOSTON - All nine teams will be competing in the 2024 America East Cross Country Championship on Saturday.  

The championship will take place at the Hard'Ack Recreation Area, hosted by the Vermont Catamounts for the first time since 2017. The women will kick the action off at 11:00 AM with the 5k course and the men are slated to take on the 8k course at 12:00 PM.  

For more information on the upcoming championship, including live results visit #AEXC Championship Central. Watch the race live on AmericaEast.TV.

Parking Information: Limited spectator parking will be available on-site at Hard’ack Recreation Area, located at 179 Congress St in St. Albans. Additional spectator parking will be available at Collins-Perley Sports and Fitness Center, located 2.1 miles down the road, at 890 Fairfax Rd. A shuttle bus will bring spectators to and from Collins-Perley to Hard’ack.

Need To Know: 

  • Last Time Out: The Binghamton Bearcats captured the women’s title last season, which marked the first women’s conference championship in program history.  The Binghamton women ignited 69 points last fall, while Vermont (77) and UMass Lowell (81) took second and third, respectively. 
  • Last Time Out: The UMass Lowell River Hawks men’s team took the conference crown at the 2023 #AEXC Championship. UMass Lowell generated 34 points, Maine managed second with 74 points, New Hampshire and Binghamton took third and fourth with 94 points each. The River Hawks are seeking their fifth-straight #AEXC triumph in 2024.
  • What Happened in 2017: The last time the #AEXC Championship was held in St. Albans, the Stony Brook Seawolves won the men’s title with three top-ten finishers. Meanwhile, the New Hampshire Wildcats claimed the women’s crown as three top-ten finishers propelled them to the victory. Olympian Elle Purrier St. Pierre led the Wildcats to the win with a first-place finish. 
  • Female Runners to Watch 
    • Mary-Kate Finn, UMass Lowell – Finn took the 2023 #AEXC Championship with a 5k time of 17:17.18. The three-time performer of the week this fall, looks to be the first student-athlete to capture back-to-back titles since Emily Mackay from Binghamton in 2020 and 2021. 
    • Jasmine Trott, Bryant – Trott finished sixth in last year's Championship in Orono. The junior will look to continue her strong performance since the NEICAAA Cross Country Championships where she took second place on October 12.  
    • Sydney Leitner, Binghamton – Last weekend during the Fall Foliage Invitational, Leitner took first overall with a time of 17:53.6. Leitner has experience in the big moments, as she finished seventh in the 2023 #AEXC Championships. 
    • Tess Fitzmaurice, UAlbany – Fitzmaurice earned Performer of the Week honors on October 1st after her first-place finish at the RPI Harvest Classic. Fitzmaurice captured a top-ten finish in the 2022 Championships (9th).  
  • Male Runners to Watch 
    • Jan Wouter Van Den Akker, UMass Lowell – The senior seeks to go back-to-back after his winning performance at the 2023 #AEXC Championships last fall. The three-time Performer of the Week took 17th overall last weekend with an 8k time of 24:22.3 in the Pre-National Invitational hosted by Wisconsin.  
    • Ryan Slaney, Bryant – Slaney will look to continue his winning ways since taking the title at the NEICAAA Cross Country Championships with an 8k time of 24:12.7. The Cumberland, R.I. native claimed second place last year in Orono.  
    • Eldad Mulugeta, UMBC - Mulugeta took 7th overall with a 5.2-mile time of 25:04.4 (4:49 pace) at the Spiked Shoe Invitational hosted by Penn State and looks to ignite the Retrievers to a strong performance.  
    • Luke Marsanskis, Maine – The senior took the title at the Bruce Kirsch Cross Country Cup, which later turned into his second Performer of the Week accolade this fall. Marsanskis took fourth last season at the 2023 #AEXC Championships. 

ABOUT AMERICA EAST 
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference its social media channels, @AmericaEast.  
  

- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -