NEW ORLEANS – Suffolk cross country's Matyas Csiki-Fejer and Emily Manfra each collected NCAA Division III All-New England honors recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Following the regional championships last Saturday, Nov. 17, a total of 280 men and 280 women from 155 institutions earned the distinction by finishing among the top-35 runners at one of the eight regional sites across the nation.
Csiki-Fejer and Manfra were the only student-athletes from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to garner the accolade this season.
Csiki-Fejer picked up his second all-region nod in as many seasons after a Top 20 finish in Brunswick, Maine. The Manchester, Missouri native, finished the 8K course in 25:29.5 to capture 19th out of the 384 runners. Behind his performance, the sophomore became the first-ever Suffolk male runner to secure a spot at the NCAA Division III National Championships.
Manfra also received her second all-region nod in as many years. In her final regional run, the senior saved the best for last, both individually and in Suffolk cross country history with a 14th-place showing. That finish is not only the best-ever for a Rams' runner on the regional stage, but marks the highest finish for a GNAC student-athlete in the 6K era, upstaging her own 17th-place performance from a year ago (2018). The captain from Stoneham, Massachusetts, set a 5:53.3-mile pace to complete the 6K in 21:47.3. Manfra, who made history a year ago as the first-ever Suffolk student-athlete to compete at NCAAs, wrote more records as the first Suffolk student-athlete to run at the national competition twice in their careers.
The Rams pair will join their competitors in Louisville, Kentucky, this weekend as Spalding University and the Louisville Sports Commission hosts the 2019 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at the Tom Sawyer State Park. The men's race has a 10:45 a.m. start, with the women set to run at 11:45 a.m.