Men's Cross Country Kicks Off 2017 at Lehigh Invitational

Friday, September 1

Bethlehem, PA

5:30 PM

Rutgers University

Lehigh Invitational

Men's Cross Country Kicks Off 2017 at Lehigh Invitational

Aug 31 | Men's Cross Country

Live Results Meet the Team

Scarlet Knights’ first meet spans 6,000 meters on Lehigh’s Goodman Campus course

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Aug. 31, 2017) – Rutgers men's cross country opens the 2017 season at the Lehigh Invitational on Friday evening, Sept. 1. The Scarlet Knights will run the 6,000-meter course at Lehigh's Goodman Campus – a preview of the 2017 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships – with the gun sounding at 5:30 p.m.

The Course
The picturesque Goodman Campus Cross Country Course starts on the north end of Goodman Campus, adjacent to College Drive. The course accommodates four course distances and navigates through a beautiful landscape of cornfields, green space, wooded areas and campus scenery.

Regarded as one of the best in the Northeast region and the nation, the course hosts many major racing events including the Paul Short Run - the largest intercollegiate cross country race in the nation - as well as high school and other championships. The course has hosted three NCAA National Championship meets (1979, 1983, 1993) as well as numerous NCAA Regional Championships. The Goodman Campus is scheduled to host the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals again in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

The current (new) course is the second version of the Lehigh cross country course at Goodman Campus and has existed in its current layout since 1999.

The Expectations
Head Coach Mike Mulqueen: "It will be good to get the season started and to see where we are with our fitness. We are running at Lehigh because the NCAA regional race is being held there. This gives us a chance to run on that course."

The Squad
Junior Conor Murphy led the Scarlet Knights in five of seven meets, including all of championship season in the fall of 2016. Murphy paced the team in the Big Ten, NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and IC4A meets, highlighted by an All-University East Performer award at the IC4A Championships.

Junior Dom Munson joined Murphy on the All-University East Performer list following a 17^th place finish at the IC4A Championships. Munson led the Scarlet Knights with a sixth-place individual time of 24:57.07 at the Rider Invitational early last season. Seniors Alexander Livernois and Trent Brinkofski were also on the All-University East Performer accolades at IC4A's, and head into their final season in Scarlet.

Brinkofski was honored twice as a junior by the Big Ten as a recipient of the Sportsmanship Award and as an Athlete of the Week following his fifth place finish at the Metropolitan Championships in October.

Mulqueen welcomes five newcomers to the Scarlet Knights this fall, including four freshmen. Billy Hill, Tom Holster and Patrick Walsh are all rookies coming off All-State senior high school seasons. Walsh was also a Group 1 cross country champion. Genaro Anzalone was named an All-American last fall at Christian Brothers Academy, and sophomore Sean Martinek joins the team this year with experience as a Non-Public A State indoor champion in the 800-meter.

Academic Excellence
Rutgers was recognized as a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team for the 2016 season. RU was among the 189 men's programs that earned all-academic team accolades. To qualify, teams must carry at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average. The team finished with a cumulative grade point average of 3.37.

Up Next
The Scarlet Knights' first 8,000-meter test will come at the Fordham Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 9 in a preview of the Metropolitan and IC4A Championship courses at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.