Stony Brook Men’s Cross Country competed in its final race of the season on Saturday at the IC4A/ECAC Championships in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The team placed 15th out of the 25 teams.
The Seawolves competed with a group of five in the men’s five mile run, as head coach Andy Ronan wanted to give his younger runners some leverage heading into next season.
“Even though the season is technically over, we will run a small group of guys tomorrow at the IC4A Championships,” Ronan said in a press release. “This group is made up of several freshmen and some of the guys that did not compete in the regional championships last week. The goal is just to get one more cross country race in their legs, and gain some more experience for next year.”
The juniors, the most experienced members of the pack, were the top-three finishers for Stony Brook. Leading the way was junior Darian Sorouri, who wrapped up his impressive season placing 23rd out of the 203 runners with a time of 25:56.5. Following him was junior Kevin Vinolas, finishing with a time of 26:31.7 in 53rd place. Junior Benjamin McDermott finished with a time of 27:04.3 in 89th place.
The younger portion of the pack was led by freshman Eric Cunha. Cunha finished the five mile race with a time of 28:08.3 in 152nd place. Freshman Brendan Foley finished five places behind him at 157th place with a time of 28:19.0.
The last time Stony Brook was in the IC4A Championships was in 2015, where the team placed fourth in team standings, marking this year’s 15th place performance a regression.
This was the final meet of the fall season for Stony Brook Cross Country. The men’s team will be losing three seniors in Michael Watts, Nick Cruz and Danny Connelly next season to graduation.
