BOSTON – The Will Feldman era of Suffolk cross country is set to begin in the fall of 2017 with the Rams' men's schedule featuring five events and the women set to participate in six.
The main races are spread across September and October with each Rams squad taking three courses in the former and two in the latter. The women's extra meet, the NCAA Division III New England Regionals, will take place Saturday, Nov. 11 in Gorham, Maine.
The first gun of the season will be fired at the Roger Williams Invitational Saturday, Sept. 2 in Bristol, Rhode Island.
After a week off, Suffolk heads to North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Saturday, Sept. 16 for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, before wrapping up its first month of action two weeks later at the Keene State College Invitational Saturday, Sept. 30.
Suffolk will use the Saints Invitational, hosted by conference counterpart Emmanuel, at Boston's Franklin Park Friday, Oct. 13 to prep for the 2017 GNAC Championships slated for Saturday, Oct. 28. The Rams will vie for the conference's crown in Bristol, Rhode Island, with the event hosted by Johnson & Wales.
Feldman, a fixture in the Suffolk cross country record books, returned to his alma mater in a new role as the inaugural Head Coach of Track & Field/Cross Country and begins his first season in the position this fall. He takes over the Rams' cross country programs that each finished sixth at the league championships a year ago. He welcomes back the reigning women's GNAC Rookie of the Year Emily Manfra, who finished the championship course in second place just one second in front of fellow All-GNAC first-team honoree and classmate, Emma Weisse. Like Feldman, the pair wrote their names in Suffolk's annals as the first-ever Rams' pair to take home all-league honors the same season, let alone spots on the first team, while Manfra is the first Suffolk runner – either male or female – to earned the league's top rookie distinction. On the men's side, Feldman welcomes back veterans Paulo Guedes and David Campisano, who each posted sub-30:00.0 times in the 8k course multiple times in 2016.