2008 Woodie Awards
Second place finish to Iona a victory for men's cross country
Daniel Barrack
Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: Sports
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The Marist men's cross country team finished runner up to nationally-ranked Iona College on Friday. The second place finish was its best in school history in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships. The Red Foxes ended the day with a school record low 52 points, but still fell short of Iona who finished with 17 points on the afternoon. The victory for Iona College was its 16th consecutive MAAC Cross Country Championship.
For the second consecutive year, and the fourth time ever, Marist placed second behind the goliath of the MAAC Conference. Going back to 1998, Marist has placed atop every team besides Iona in 2003, 2005, and now this season. After the team's record-setting performance on Friday, Marist goes into the NCAA Northeast Regional's on Nov. 11 ranked 13th overall.
This performance is just what Marist was hoping for. Coach Peter Colaizzo stated in an interview last week that "Iona is equivalent to Duke Basketball. No one can touch them. Our goal is to finish second, which would be just as good as winning first place itself."
Not only did Marist finish second, but the school record time exceeded expectations.
The biggest contributor on Friday was Marist's top runner all season, and the favorite to win the Coaches Award at the end of the season, sophomore Germa Segni. Segni finished fourth overall and was the only runner in the top five that did not run for Iona College.
Fellow sophomore David Raucci finished three spots behind Segni, and recorded a personal best time of 25:38.7. Stand-out freshman Conor Shelly finished ninth overall with a time of 25:46.1.
If these names look familiar, these were the three runners that Coach Colaizzo named as perhaps the three best on the squad. Along with the top three, senior captain Justin Harris finished 18th, and senior captain Matt Syzmaszek recorded a time of 26:47.6, placing him in the top 20.
Finishing second on Friday had no effect on the selection of the MAAC Men's Cross Country All-Academic Team. With 12 members selected to the team, Marist led all schools, earning three more spots than Loyola who had nine. Germa Segni was included in the list of runners to be selected, along with four sophomores, five juniors, and two seniors. Junior Mike Rolek had the highest grade point average of all Marist runners selected with a GPA of 3.86.
Coming off of an outstanding performance, the Red Foxes look to carry its momentum into the Northeast Regional Championships on Nov. 11.
For the second consecutive year, and the fourth time ever, Marist placed second behind the goliath of the MAAC Conference. Going back to 1998, Marist has placed atop every team besides Iona in 2003, 2005, and now this season. After the team's record-setting performance on Friday, Marist goes into the NCAA Northeast Regional's on Nov. 11 ranked 13th overall.
This performance is just what Marist was hoping for. Coach Peter Colaizzo stated in an interview last week that "Iona is equivalent to Duke Basketball. No one can touch them. Our goal is to finish second, which would be just as good as winning first place itself."
Not only did Marist finish second, but the school record time exceeded expectations.
The biggest contributor on Friday was Marist's top runner all season, and the favorite to win the Coaches Award at the end of the season, sophomore Germa Segni. Segni finished fourth overall and was the only runner in the top five that did not run for Iona College.
Fellow sophomore David Raucci finished three spots behind Segni, and recorded a personal best time of 25:38.7. Stand-out freshman Conor Shelly finished ninth overall with a time of 25:46.1.
If these names look familiar, these were the three runners that Coach Colaizzo named as perhaps the three best on the squad. Along with the top three, senior captain Justin Harris finished 18th, and senior captain Matt Syzmaszek recorded a time of 26:47.6, placing him in the top 20.
Finishing second on Friday had no effect on the selection of the MAAC Men's Cross Country All-Academic Team. With 12 members selected to the team, Marist led all schools, earning three more spots than Loyola who had nine. Germa Segni was included in the list of runners to be selected, along with four sophomores, five juniors, and two seniors. Junior Mike Rolek had the highest grade point average of all Marist runners selected with a GPA of 3.86.
Coming off of an outstanding performance, the Red Foxes look to carry its momentum into the Northeast Regional Championships on Nov. 11.
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