SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Suffolk men's cross country senior Matyas Csiki-Fejer out run his competition on and off the course to pick up a pair of major Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) awards. The senior captain collected both CCC Runner of the Year and CCC Scholar-Athlete and was one of a trio of blue-and-gold runners to earn all-conference recognition.
Csiki-Fejer cruised past the rest of his 119 conference counterparts by over two full minutes to capture the individual CCC title. As the first runner to cross the 8k tape, the Manchester, Missouri, local picked up CCC Runner of the Year status. He topped a conference championship course for the second time in his career as he did so as a sophomore at the 2019 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships.
The CCC rewards runners who place within the top 15 at the championship meet with all-conference distinction. The group featured a trio of Suffolk student-athletes. Csiki-Fejer led the group and his all-league accolade, meanwhile, although is the first from the CCC, marks the third all-conference distinction in his collegiate career after being up the same status as a freshman and sophomore, respectively, from the GNAC.
Nic Malm and Thomas Novy earned the recognition for the first time in their careers. Malm, a senior captain from Lemonister, Massachusetts, placed just off the podium in fourth behind a time of 27:14, while Novy, a freshman that calls Simsbury, Connecticut, home, clocked a 28:02 to claim 15th.
Away from competition, Csiki-Fejer was voted as the league's scholar-athlete, which is given to a student-athlete who is either graduating or has exhausted his eligibility and has excelled both athletically and academically. Over three semesters, the pre-law, public policy double major has compiled an unblemished 4.00 GPA en route to become the program's first College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-American in 2019-20 with fourth-team accolade. A year later, he received a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-America second-team to become the second-ever Suffolk student-athlete across all sports to achieve a pair of such recognitions in their collegiate careers. Along with the national academic awards, Csiki-Fejer has been rewarded for his work in the classroom on the conference and university level on multiple occasions as well. He is the second Suffolk student-athlete to garner CCC Scholar-Athlete honors joining Ilda Ascic of the women's tennis team.
The threesome of award winners paced Suffolk to a second-place showing in its inaugural CCC Championship Saturday, Oct. 31 at Western New England.
Now, the Rams turn their attention to the 2021 NCAA Division III East Regionals, which Suffolk will host at Franklin Park Saturday, Nov. 13.
All-CCC
1. Matyas Csiki-Fejer, Suffolk – 25:00
2. Tony Chase, University of New England – 27:07
3. Ryan Seha, Roger Williams – 27:12
4. Nic Malm, Suffolk – 27:14
5. Alexander Kalber, Roger Williams – 27:19
6. Caleb Nye, Endicott – 27:24
7. Raffi Manzo, Roger Williams – 27:33
8. Ethan Boivin, Roger Williams – 27:33
9. Shawn Tobin, Nichols – 27:36
10. Diego Fernandez, University of New England – 27:36
11. Alexander Cravens, Gordon – 27:49
12. Luke Gillett, Roger Williams – 27:56
13. Colin McGinn, Gordon – 27:58
14. Luke Strand, Roger Williams – 27:59
15. Thomas Novy, Suffolk – 28:02
Runner of the Year – Matyas Csiki-Fejer, Suffolk
Rookie of the Year – Ryan Shea, Roger Williams
Coach of the Year – Sean Livingtson, Roger Williams
CCC Scholar-Athlete – Matyas Csiki-Fejer, Suffolk
Team Sportsmanship - Gordon