Cross Country Hosts 2017 NEC Championships on Saturday
The men's 8K will start at 11:00 a.m. and the women's 5K will begin at noon.
The 2017 Northeast Conference Cross Country Championships will take place on Central Connecticut's home course, Stanley Quarter Park, in New Britain, CT on Saturday, October 28. Joining the Blue Devils in the quest for this year's NEC title will be Bryant, Fairleigh Dickinson, Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U. and Wagner. LIU Brooklyn and Robert Morris will both compete for the women's championships only. The men will kickoff the championship meet day at 11:00 a.m. in the 8K race and the female competitors will proceed at noon in the 5K finale. Highlights and interviews from the cross country championships will be posted after the races on NEC Front Row.
NEC CHAMPIONSHIP HEADQUARTERS: MEN | WOMEN
With home-course advantage and eight-consecutive Northeast Conference titles in its favor, the defending champion CCSU men's cross country team seeks its ninth straight championship in program history. The Blue Devils saw five runners to the All-Conference team last year including returnees, junior Austin Trainor and junior Alex Norstrom. Trainor and Norstrom finished in eighth and ninth place, respectively, at last season's championships.
NEC women's cross country perennial stud, senior Brittany Mendelson, will look to lead the Blue Devils to it's first ever league championship and claim her third straight individual NEC title. Mendelson, the league's two-time reigning Outstanding Performer, will be competing for the first time this season.
Last year, the CCSU women's squad was the 2016 runner-up with two returning juniors, Madeline Mondo and Dawn Hubbell, finishing in the top-10 with Mendelson. The women's team will look to one-up its performance last year under the direction of head coach Eric Blake in his eighth season with the women and ninth at the helm for the men.
Blake looks to extend his remarkable championship history including 13 total Northeast Conference Championships (8-XC, 5-Track).
Stanley Quarter Park is located less than a mile from the CCSU campus and plays home to the men's and women's cross country teams. The park features ample field space, a park as well as a wooded area that makes for an eventful cross country course. The women's 5K course consists of three loops, two around the Stanley Quarter Park pond and one loop through the wooded area. The men's 8K course consists of three pond loops and two woods loops.
