Men’s Cross Country 2017 Season in Review
Jan 10 | Men's Cross Country
Scarlet Knights' season begins and ends with hardware
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Jan. 10, 2018) – Their ambition was blatantly evident from the very first gun to signal the start of the 2017 men's cross country season. Rutgers set out to improve team standings and individual times, while fighting to take home some hardware in the process.
The result was a litany of personal records, a season-long ranking in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic region rankings, two team titles – including the coveted Metropolitan Championships – and a team trophy from the ECAC Championships. The crescendo of championship season featured Rutgers bettering their ranking by two positions at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships before scoring a fourth place team finish out of 25 teams at the ECAC Championships to conclude the season.
This success was born from an early team-wide commitment to pursue excellence in 2017. Leading the team in his 34th season as head coach, Mike Mulqueen, saw great potential during preseason camp. Coming off another successful year that saw Rutgers score its highest regional ranking in years at No. 10, the Scarlet Knights were returning four IC4A All-East performers from the 2016 campaign.
Mulqueen meticulously planned out the regular season schedule with an eye toward preparing for a lucrative championship run. With the NCAA Regional Championships set for Lehigh's Goodman Campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Scarlet Knights were able to preview the course twice at the Lehigh Invitational on Sept. 1 and the Paul Short Run on Sept. 29. Rutgers also got a crack at the infamous Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx during the Fordham Fiasco on Sept. 9 ahead of the Metropolitan Championship and IC4A Championship races, which both used the iconic rolling hills and tricky turns of VCP.
Once training plans and race strategies were in the books, it was time to hit the trails for the first competition of 2017, which ended up setting the winning tone for the rest of the season. Rutgers beat out four other teams to claim the Lehigh Invitational title on Sept. 1 behind sophomore Cole Pschunder, who was the individual runner-up by just two-tenths of a second. It was the debut race of a breakout season for the RU sophomore, who would go on to pace Rutgers in three total races and place second overall the first two races of the season.
Rutgers settled into a good routine with races over the following two weekends, placing second at the Fordham Fiasco and third at the Rider Invitational in Pennington. The latter saw the best improvement from its freshmen, as Genero Anzalone, Billy Hill and Tom Holster all turned in their fastest 8,000-meter times thus far. Junior Dom Munson led the Scarlet Knights with a sixth place finish out of 79 harriers. In all, 10 Rutgers runners clocked their fastest 8K's of the season.
RU had a week off to prepare for the first marquee event of the season, the Paul Short Run. Participating in what is known as the largest college cross country meet in the nation, six Scarlet Knights turned in personal records while 9-of-10 ran their fastest 8K's of the year to push Rutgers to a 23rd place finish out of 40 teams in the College Gold division. Munson officially led the team across the line for the second race in a row, but only by a hair in front of senior Luke Wiley, who finished with the same time of 24:49.
With another week off, Rutgers was rested and rearing to go for the Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on Oct. 13. Eight-thousand meters later, Rutgers won its first Met title since 1986 in a total team effort, placing all five point-scorers in the Top 11. Pschunder paced RU in fifth place out of 111.
"The guys ran great," said Mulqueen, who coached Rutgers' last Metropolitan Championships team. "We had a plan, and they followed it perfectly. They ran smart and tough, it was a complete team race, and I am very proud of them."
At the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 29 in Indiana, RU's top five all posted their best conference championship times, including freshman Patrick Walsh, who was the fifth Scarlet Knight across the line. Racing against a stacked field with all 12 teams regionally ranked and eight coming into the race in the national Top 30, the competition readied RU for the final two races of the season.
Rutgers entered the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships ranked 15th in the region. They outran the rankings for a 13th place team finish out of the 26 programs in attendance. All five point-scorers were in the top half of the 180-man field, led by junior Conor Murphy for the second straight race. Murphy and Pschunder each set personal records for the 10,000-meter run, while Walsh scored his best team finish of third in his first career regional championship race.
The 2017 season both began and ended with hardware for the Scarlet Knights. Seventy-four days after hoisting the Lehigh Invitational crown, Rutgers wrapped the campaign with an ECAC trophy for its fourth place performance out of 25 teams at the ECAC Championships. Racing at Van Cortlandt Park for the third time, Murphy earned his second consecutive nod to the IC4A Coaches Association All-East Team, while Pschunder and Wiley each earned their first for finishes in the Top 40 of the 200-man race.
Mulqueen bid adieu to seniors Trent Brinkofski, Alexander Livernois and Wiley, who still have a year of track and field before calling it a college career. Rutgers' upperclassmen in 2018 will be as strong as ever with Murphy and Munson returning as seniors and Pschunder entering his junior year.
Following week after week of on-the-course success, Rutgers men's cross country ended the cycle with some great news from the classroom as nine Scarlet Knights made the Fall 2017 Academic All-Big Ten list for sporting GPA's over 3.0. Brinkofski, Livernois and Wiley all completed the clean sweep, earning the distinction in all three eligible seasons.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers men's cross country, follow the program on Twitter (@Rutgers_MensTF). The team is also on Facebook (facebook.com/RutgersMensTF/).
The result was a litany of personal records, a season-long ranking in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic region rankings, two team titles – including the coveted Metropolitan Championships – and a team trophy from the ECAC Championships. The crescendo of championship season featured Rutgers bettering their ranking by two positions at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships before scoring a fourth place team finish out of 25 teams at the ECAC Championships to conclude the season.
This success was born from an early team-wide commitment to pursue excellence in 2017. Leading the team in his 34th season as head coach, Mike Mulqueen, saw great potential during preseason camp. Coming off another successful year that saw Rutgers score its highest regional ranking in years at No. 10, the Scarlet Knights were returning four IC4A All-East performers from the 2016 campaign.
Mulqueen meticulously planned out the regular season schedule with an eye toward preparing for a lucrative championship run. With the NCAA Regional Championships set for Lehigh's Goodman Campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Scarlet Knights were able to preview the course twice at the Lehigh Invitational on Sept. 1 and the Paul Short Run on Sept. 29. Rutgers also got a crack at the infamous Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx during the Fordham Fiasco on Sept. 9 ahead of the Metropolitan Championship and IC4A Championship races, which both used the iconic rolling hills and tricky turns of VCP.
Once training plans and race strategies were in the books, it was time to hit the trails for the first competition of 2017, which ended up setting the winning tone for the rest of the season. Rutgers beat out four other teams to claim the Lehigh Invitational title on Sept. 1 behind sophomore Cole Pschunder, who was the individual runner-up by just two-tenths of a second. It was the debut race of a breakout season for the RU sophomore, who would go on to pace Rutgers in three total races and place second overall the first two races of the season.
Rutgers settled into a good routine with races over the following two weekends, placing second at the Fordham Fiasco and third at the Rider Invitational in Pennington. The latter saw the best improvement from its freshmen, as Genero Anzalone, Billy Hill and Tom Holster all turned in their fastest 8,000-meter times thus far. Junior Dom Munson led the Scarlet Knights with a sixth place finish out of 79 harriers. In all, 10 Rutgers runners clocked their fastest 8K's of the season.
RU had a week off to prepare for the first marquee event of the season, the Paul Short Run. Participating in what is known as the largest college cross country meet in the nation, six Scarlet Knights turned in personal records while 9-of-10 ran their fastest 8K's of the year to push Rutgers to a 23rd place finish out of 40 teams in the College Gold division. Munson officially led the team across the line for the second race in a row, but only by a hair in front of senior Luke Wiley, who finished with the same time of 24:49.
With another week off, Rutgers was rested and rearing to go for the Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on Oct. 13. Eight-thousand meters later, Rutgers won its first Met title since 1986 in a total team effort, placing all five point-scorers in the Top 11. Pschunder paced RU in fifth place out of 111.
"The guys ran great," said Mulqueen, who coached Rutgers' last Metropolitan Championships team. "We had a plan, and they followed it perfectly. They ran smart and tough, it was a complete team race, and I am very proud of them."
METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONS! #RUMXC wins the Mets with a point-scoring finish of 5-6-8-9-11!
— Rutgers Men's TF/XC (@Rutgers_MensTF) October 13, 2017
??: https://t.co/B38jmWGthx pic.twitter.com/mBAU6NAiW8
At the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 29 in Indiana, RU's top five all posted their best conference championship times, including freshman Patrick Walsh, who was the fifth Scarlet Knight across the line. Racing against a stacked field with all 12 teams regionally ranked and eight coming into the race in the national Top 30, the competition readied RU for the final two races of the season.
Rutgers entered the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships ranked 15th in the region. They outran the rankings for a 13th place team finish out of the 26 programs in attendance. All five point-scorers were in the top half of the 180-man field, led by junior Conor Murphy for the second straight race. Murphy and Pschunder each set personal records for the 10,000-meter run, while Walsh scored his best team finish of third in his first career regional championship race.
.@RVisionRU previews the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Championships for #RUMXC, launching on Friday at 11:45 a.m. at Lehigh's Goodman Campus. pic.twitter.com/iATOpV0hDS
— Rutgers Men's TF/XC (@Rutgers_MensTF) November 9, 2017
The 2017 season both began and ended with hardware for the Scarlet Knights. Seventy-four days after hoisting the Lehigh Invitational crown, Rutgers wrapped the campaign with an ECAC trophy for its fourth place performance out of 25 teams at the ECAC Championships. Racing at Van Cortlandt Park for the third time, Murphy earned his second consecutive nod to the IC4A Coaches Association All-East Team, while Pschunder and Wiley each earned their first for finishes in the Top 40 of the 200-man race.
Mulqueen bid adieu to seniors Trent Brinkofski, Alexander Livernois and Wiley, who still have a year of track and field before calling it a college career. Rutgers' upperclassmen in 2018 will be as strong as ever with Murphy and Munson returning as seniors and Pschunder entering his junior year.
Following week after week of on-the-course success, Rutgers men's cross country ended the cycle with some great news from the classroom as nine Scarlet Knights made the Fall 2017 Academic All-Big Ten list for sporting GPA's over 3.0. Brinkofski, Livernois and Wiley all completed the clean sweep, earning the distinction in all three eligible seasons.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers men's cross country, follow the program on Twitter (@Rutgers_MensTF). The team is also on Facebook (facebook.com/RutgersMensTF/).
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