MARCY, N.Y. – The SUNYIT Men's Cross Country Team turned in a remarkable race on Saturday to win the 2013 NEAC Cross Country Championship. The team won with a total of 27 points, blowing away the 10-team field as SUNYIT's top-five runners all finished in the top-9 overall.
As he'd done all year, sophomore Derek Struck (Knox, N.Y. / Berne-Knox-Westerlo) led the way for the Wildcats, setting yet another course record with a winning time of 26 minutes and 33 seconds. Struck's performance was particularly impressive given the wet conditions on the course, but that didn't stop the sophomore from beating his previous course record (set earlier this year during the Wildcat Weekend Invitational on September 28th) by four seconds.
Behind Struck were seniors Dylan Parry (Voorheesville, N.Y. / Voorheesville) and Chris Wicks (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker). Parry had an outstanding race, finishing 4th overall while Wicks surprised everyone, turning in his best career performance in trailing Parry by just 7 seconds (5th place).
Also coming up big for the Wildcats were freshmen Joseph Acey and Sean McCarthy, who finished 8th and 9th, respectively.
In fact, so complete was SUNYIT's dominance in the race, that despite running one of his best races, junior Cody Russell (Fonda, N.Y. / Fonda) was not in the Wildcats' scoring five, despite finishing eleventh.
The Wildcats won't have too long to enjoy their victory, however, as the team heads to Williams College this Saturday for the ECAC Men's Cross Country Championship. Race time is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
For more, head over to our SUNYIT Athletics Facebook page. Post-race interviews with Derek Struck, Dylan Parry, and SUNYIT Head Coach Bill Tylutki can be found there.
