BIDDEFORD, Maine – For the first time in 2021 and in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) era, the Suffolk men's cross country swept the league's weekly awards with Matyas Csiki-Fejer and Tim Barry garnering runner and rookie of the week, respectively, the conference office announced.
The awards haul marks the first time Suffolk men's cross country swept the weekly awards since Oct. 8, 2019 when Csiki-Fejer and Elijah Dillon collected the GNAC's best runner and rookie nods, respectively. Barry's rookie of the week status is the freshman's first of his collegiate career, and first since Dillon picked up the accolade Oct. 8, 2019. Csiki-Fejer, meanwhile, earned his second weekly recognition from the CCC this season. The Manchester, Missouri product has been tabbed the league's best runner over a seven-day stretch each week he has raced in 2021.
The pair helped Suffolk to a sixth-place performance at the 48th UMass Dartmouth Invitational, an event which featured 33 teams from across all NCAA Divisions including UMass Lowell, Trinity, WPI, Franklin Pierce and Babson, as well as conference counterparts Roger Williams, the University of New England, Nichols and Western New England. The sixth-place finish is the Rams' best in at the event, which has been a staple on Suffolk's scheduled since Will Feldman took over the program five years ago.
Csiki-Fejer led the five-miler course wire-to-wire, going to the front from the gun. At mile three, he broke away from the last two athletes pursuing him, and was solo for the final mile lap. He finished with a commanding lead over a strong field of 256 student-athletes. His final time of 23:36.3 is not only a program record, but was 1:44 faster than his previous personal-record, which he set at the same event two years prior.
Barry, meanwhile, ran his first collegiate 5-mile race in 25:43 to take 39th overall. He was the second Ram through the finisher's chute, behind Csiki-Fejer, and the fastest CCC rookie on the course.
The pair will have the next two weekends off before competing at the Mike Woods Invitational hosted by Geneseo at the National Warplane Museum Saturday, Oct. 2.