Men's XC Picked Second in Preseason Poll
The Owls edged out Bridgewater State last fall but the Bears are projected to finish ahead of the Owls with four first-place votes and 24 points.
WESTFIELD, Mass. --- The Owls of Westfield State are projected second in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason rankings for men's cross country voted on by coaches.
Westfield received 22 points with a pair of first-place votes. The Owls edged out Bridgewater State last fall but the Bears are projected to finish ahead of the Owls with four first-place votes and 24 points.
The Owls are the returning MASCAC men's cross-country Champions and intend to keep that run going. The Owls had all five of their runners finish in the top 10 in the Men's 8k race for the MASCAC Championship and are returning four out of the five of them.
The first-place finisher in the MASCAC final a fall ago is second-year Nate Sylven (Wrentham, Mass.). Sylven finished almost a minute before his competitors in last October's Championships. Sylven took home the MASCAC individual champion, Rookie of the Year, and All-Conference honors.
John Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.) finished third in last year's MASCAC Championship with a time of 27:45.42. Nekitopoulos also earned All-Conference honors as he looks to extend his success to his final year.
The rising senior Will Buckley (Plymouth, Mass.) finished fifth in the MASCAC's with a time of 28:03.36. Buckley also topped off his junior campaign with an All-Conference bid to add to the resume.
The final of the four is Scott Porter (Boylston, Mass.) a rising senior who finished tenth in the MASCAC Championships with a time of 28:31.27. Porter capped off his first year running with an All-Conference bid like his other three returning teammates.
Westfield is coached by Head Coach Marlee Berg-Haryasz. Berg-Haryasz led the Owls to a men's championship last fall in just her second year as the coach. Berg-Haryasz became the first female head coach of a male sport in the history of Westfield State Athletics when named to the job in 2022.
The men's cross-country team opens their season at the Keene State Alumni Meet on Saturday, August 31 at 10 A.M.
-By Hunter Briggs, Sports Information Graduate Intern