BOSTON – Against one of the most talent fields in the event's history, Suffolk men's cross country turned in a sixth-place performance at its own meet, the Suffolk Invite, Saturday afternoon at Franklin Park.
The field featured five NCAA Division III programs currently ranked in the East Region, as well as Ivy League members Dartmouth and Harvard. The Big Green won the event, handily, with a team score of 29.
Suffolk, meanwhile, who entered the weekend as the ninth team in the East in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Weekly poll combined for a team score of 231, good for seventh. That mark edged out the Rams' Commonwealth Coast Conference counterparts Gordon (320), Endicott (364), and Wentworth (462).
Matyas Csiki-Fejer continued his highlight season as the Manchester, Missouri product went stride-for-stride with Colby's Tyler Morris. Suffolk's standout led at the first check-point and Morris was one second in front at the second. It wasn't until the last leg of the race that the Mule put too much distance between him and Csiki-Fejer to take the invite's individual title with a meet record time of 24:28. Csiki-Fejer was 56 seconds after Morris to finish as the 225-runner field's runner-up. In the three-year event, he has never finished placed lower than second at Suffolk's now annual event.
Thomas Novy logged a personal best as the freshman came through the finisher's chute in 28:10 to take 56th.
Rams' rookie Connor Hayward, senior Nic Malm and sophomore Selvin Backert all finished inside the top 85 to round out Suffolk's scorers. Hawyer's time of 28:30 was good for 69th, while Malm logged a 28:40 for 75th. Backert put together a career-high time of 28:56 to finish 81st.
Luke Sikora (29:17) and Kely Maloney (29:52) also produced career-record races. Jacob Dubin, meanwhile, ran an 8k for the first time in his collegiate career.
Suffolk was also represented on the varsity course by Justin Turner (29:45), Cole Bolduc (30:01), Hunter Toyoda (30:26), Arthur Lacerda (30:55), Conor Garrity (31:13) and Shea Duffy (31:26).
A trio of Rams raced the Gold Heat. Evan Wright (32:49) and Alex Smith (37:21) made their collegiate debuts, while Joseph Robinson (34:11) raced for the first time this in 2021.
The Suffolk Invite was the Rams final prep for the 2021 CCC Championships, which is on tap for Saturday, Oct. 30 at Western New England in Springfield, Massachusetts.
