NEW ORLEANS – For the second straight week, Suffolk men's cross country squad appeared in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association's (USTFCCCA) Coaches Regional Rankings. The Rams remained eighth in the East after their efforts at the 48th UMass Dartmouth Invitational Saturday, Sept. 18, the national organization announced Tuesday afternoon.
Suffolk raced to a sixth-place performance in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, among a field of 33 institutions, that represented every NCAA Division. Among the competitors were DI members UMass Lowell (#4 Northeast Region) and Holy Cross, D2 representatives Franklin Pierce (#5 East Region) and Stonehill (#4 East Region), and the Rams' DIII counterparts Trinity (#8 Mideast Region), WPI (#5 East Region), Brandeis (#7 East Region), Babson (#9 East Region) and Southern Maine (#10 East Region).
The sixth-place finish by the blue-and-gold was the best team showing at the annual event, which has been a staple on the Rams' scheduled the last few years. Suffolk saw two standout student-athletes in Matyas Csiki-Fejer, who set a program record in the five-mile run of 23:36, and freshman Tim Barry, who was the fastest Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) rookie on the course with a final time of 25.43, good for 39th in the field of 256. For their efforts, Csiki-Fejer and Barry were named CCC Runner and Rookie of the Week, respectively.
The USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Coaches' Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each representative region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams' strengths with current season results, when applicable, in determining in a rank-order of squad potential. Only USTFCCCA member programs are eligible to receive a ranking. The weekly regional ranking by the USTFCCCA began in 2010.
Suffolk will take the next week off from competition as it preps for the Mike Woods Invitational Saturday, Oct. 2 in at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York.