Some Marist students are huge fans of the Marist basketball team, the lacrosse team. the soccer team and so on. When our teams win significant accolades Marist students go crazy because we get recognized as a school for not only our academic accomplishments but our athletic accomplishments as well. So why should you support the men's and women's cross country (XC) team right now? Well, the Marist men's XC team just returned from their MAAC Championships screaming and jumping in excitement with a well deserved second place win and even defeating Canisius' regionally ranked XC team. Some might be thinking 'they didn't win, they just got second place, if they got first place that would be a huge deal.' In actuality, a second in MAACs for the Marist men's XC team is really almost a first place and the Marist men's and women's XC coach, Pete Colaizzo, had a feeling of astonishment about the news that made him cry with tears of euphoria. Marist's top five finishers, which included John Lee, Spencer Johnson, Dietrich Mosel, Brian Edsall, and Stefan Morton, all ran under 25 minutes for an 8k - that's insane.
Why is that so? It's because Iona's nationally ranked Men's team has come in first for the MAAC Championships for twenty-five consecutive years. It's safe to say Iona has been dominating the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for a long time. Also, keep in mind the MAAC Conference for XC has been around for thirty-five years. According to www.goredfoxes.com, "The Marist men's cross country team has been recognized as the 14th best team in the Northeast region in the 2015 NCAA Division l Cross Country Regional Rankings." This definitely marks them as a well-rounded, efficient and a determined XC team ready to accomplish future goals.
The men's XC team has moved from being unranked to being in the top fifteen for the Northeast. In addition. the women's XC team also came in a solid fifth place for the MAAC Championships with many of the women running their personal bests. Sophomore Mara Schiffhauer even ended up finishing top fifteen and receiving the All-MAAC runner award. That at least deserves some praise from the students and the faculty, and this XC season is not even finished. The NCAA XC Regional Championships and The IC4A Championships are around the corner. Even though for students it's almost impossible to physically see the meets because they're all the way down in the Bronx that's okay. And if you're not into a sport where you see a bunch of sweaty and exhausted college kids running, that's fine too. However, if you do see the XC guys and girls around at least give them some support or recognition. You might not like how they run everywhere around campus in short shorts, but cut them some slack, show them some respect and wish them some luck for their upcoming meets. Marist XC team is a Division 1 college sports team that prides itself on working hard and now more than ever we could use some school spirit from our fellow students.
