Live Results
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s cross country team is looking for its fifth consecutive Liberty League title on Saturday, October 30 at the 2021 Liberty League Cross Country Championships. RPI and Union College are co-hosting this year’s championship at Saratoga Springs State Park in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
The nine league teams that sponsor men’s cross country will be participating on Saturday—Bard College, Clarkson University, Hobart College, Ithaca College, RPI, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), St. Lawrence University, Union and Vassar College. The championship begins at 10:00 a.m. with the men’s 8-kilometer race followed by the women’s 6-kilometer race at 11:00 a.m.
The Liberty League Men’s Cross Country Championship was last contested in 2019, where the Engineers claimed their fourth title in four years. They compiled 33 points with all five of their scorers placing among the top-11. St. Lawrence was the runner-up with 50 points and Ithaca rounded out the top-three teams with 59 points. The Bombers were followed by RIT (104 points), Vassar (144), Clarkson (154), Hobart (231), Union (249) and Bard (268).
RPI and Vassar are currently ranked in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national Division III rankings. The Engineers check in at No. 19 and the Brewers are among the top-30 at No. 28.
RPI opened the 2021 season with three second-place team finishes in Vassar’s Ron Stonitsch Invitational, the Engineers’ own Saratoga Invitational and the “Brown Race” at the Paul Short Run hosted by Lehigh University. RPI also competed in the Connecticut College Invitational, where they finished fourth as a team. In the first three races of the season, the team was paced by junior Matt Lecky who was the individual champion in all three. At Vassar, he was the only runner to eclipse 19 minutes on the 6-kilometer course with a 5:05 per mile pace. He followed that up with a time 25:32.1 (5:09 pace) in Saratoga and 24:30.2 (4:55 pace) at Lehigh. At the Connecticut College Invite, Lecky finished second on the team and 23rd overall (25:32.5). Graduate student John Reed and senior Owen Szabo have also been significant contributors to RPI’s squad this season. Reed was the team’s top finisher at Connecticut College, crossing the finish line in 18th with a time of 25:23.20. He was second on the team at Vassar finishing second overall (19:18.5) and at Lehigh, where he was 23rd overall (25:32.50). Reed was also seventh at Saratoga with a time of 26:03.1. Szabo’s best showing of the season was in Saratoga, where he finished third with a time of 25:53.9 and was second on RPI. His best time of the season was at Connecticut College, where he was 28th among 186 competitors; crossing the finish line at 25:39.00.
Vassar will look to make some noise at this year’s championship after opening the 2021 campaign with four first-place showings and a second-place finish, which included two meets where the Brewers defeated RPI (Vassar’s Ron Stonitsch Invitational and RPI’s Saratoga Invitational) for the team victory. Vassar also won their own Season Starter race and Westfield State’s James Earley “White” and “Blue” races. Most recently, Vassar was seventh at the Connecticut College Invitational. A trio of runners highlight Vassar’s 2021 team—junior Miles Takiguchi, senior Reed Dolan and senior Jack Caslalino. Over the last three races of the season, Takiguchi has emerged at the Brewers’ top finisher, finishing as a runner-up twice (Saratoga and James Earley) and 19th at Connecticut College. He finished with times of 25:53.3, 25:30.0 and 25:23.60 respectively. His time at the Connecticut College Invitational (25:23.60) was a season-best for the junior. Dolan has been among Vassar’s top-three runners in four of the team’s six races. He opened the year with an individual win in the Season Starter with a time of 12:52 in the 4-kilometer race. He was then sixth at the Ron Stonitsch (19:35.9) and eighth at James Earley (26:04.0). At Connecticut College, he was 25th with a time of 25:33.90. Casalino paced the team at Ron Stonitsch in third, crossing the finish line in 19:21.5. He was also fifth at Saratoga (25:58.7) and 33rd at Connecticut College (25:48.00).
St. Lawrence will be eyeing a return to the top of the team podium at the 2021 championship. The Saints won every league title from 1995 through 2015, including co-champion honors with RPI in 2005. This season, St. Lawrence won two races as a team (Cardinal Classic and Ronald C. Hoffmann Invitational). The Saints placed second at the Hamilton Short Course Race and were sixth at Geneseo’s Mike Woods Invitational. The team also competed at the Connecticut College Invitational (13th). First-year Timothy Boyce had a breakout rookie campaign as the Saints’ top finisher in four of the team’s five races. The four-time Liberty League Rookie of the Week selection won two races—the Cardinal Classic (5K) and the Hoffmann Invitational (8K) with times of 16:00.2 and 26:38.34. He was also tops on the team at Geneseo (12th; 25:04.2) and Connecticut College (50th; 26:13.0). Juniors Jackson Hamilton and Matt Abell bolster the team’s lineup. Hamilton won the Hamilton Short Course Invitational with a time of 15:27.1 (5K) and he was second among the Saints in Geneseo with a time of 26:07.1. Abell was third overall at the Hoffmann Invitational with a time of 27:00.29 and he was third on the team at Connecticut College (26:37.0). George Gowdy will also be key for the Saints; he was fifth overall at the Hoffman Invitational with a time of 27:26.84 and he cut that time by over a minute at Connecticut College (26:25).
RIT was among the top-eight teams in all five races they competed in this season, which included two third place finishes at the St. John Fisher Invitational and the Houghton Invitational. The Tigers have been paced by senior Aleksei Bingham this season, who was 20th at the 2019 Liberty League Championship. He won the Houghton Invitational with a pace of 5:13 per mile and a time of 25:54.16. He was also 18th in a field of 225 at University of Rochester’s multi-divisional meet, good for fourth among Division III runners (26:13.9). He finished with a time of 25:29.5 at the Geneseo Invitational. First-years Zack Hall and Matthew Chaikowsky have given the Tigers depth in 2021 as the duo have both finished among the team’s top-three runners at multiple meets. Hall was seventh at the Houghton Invitational clocking in a time of 26:50.85 and he was ninth at the St. John Fisher Invitational with a time of 20:06.02 in the 6-kilometer race. Chaikowsky finished second on the team at the Rochester Invitational and the Geneseo Invitational with times of 27:13.5 and 26:02.8 respectively.
-A pair of senior runners will lead
Ithaca at this year’s championship, Ben Tiber and Danny Jagoe. Tiber was tops on the team in three races (Hamilton Short Course, Geneseo Invitational, Rowan Border Battle) while Jagoe paced the squad at the Saratoga Invitational. Tiber was second at Hamilton, crossing the finish line of the 5-kilmeter course in 15:30.9. He finished with a time of 25:21.4 at Geneseo, finishing 19th overall and he recorded a time of 26:05.8 at Rowan. Jagoe, who finished among the top-15 at the 2019 Liberty League Championship, was fourth at the Saratoga Invitational at 25:54.9, his best 8-kilometer time of the season. He was also 35th at the Geneseo Invitational (26:16.8). Sophomore Patrick Bierach will also be a contributor for the Bombers.
Clarkson senior Kevin Cronin will also be a runner to watch. He was ninth at the 2019 Liberty League Championship, earning him a spot on the All-Liberty League Second Team. Cronin has led the Golden Knights in three races this season, including a victory at the Cross Country Only Championship for the second time in his career. He won that race with a margin of victory of 36 seconds crossing the finish line in 26:27.8 . He was also third in the Hamilton Invitational with a time of 26:37.7. First-year Tyler Nickels will also look to make an impression at his first conference championship after finishing among the top-20 in all five races this season, including a fourth place showing at the Cross Country Only Championship (28:36.4).
Hobart has been led by first-year Matt Fridel this season. He has paced the team in five of the team’s six races in 2021, including finishing ninth at the Cross Country Only Championship (28:55.3). First-year Ryan Russell was the top runner for
Union four times this season, including an eighth place showing at the Keene State Invitational with a time of 26:27.5. Oliver Pawelek led the
Bard men’s cross country team on four occasions this season, he finished in the top-15 at the Fred Pavlich Invitational (12th).