After winning their third East Coast Conference (ECC) title in a row, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams have been picked to finish first in the preseason coaches’ poll with the men’s team receiving all eight first place votes and the women’s team receiving eight of the nine first place votes.
The men lost their top three runners from last year’s conference final but return three All-Conference runners and seven runners who placed in the top 21 spots.
Sophomore Josiah Ottolini was named the ECC Preseason Runner of the Year after being named ECC Rookie of the Year last season as the first freshman to cross the line at the ECC Championships in a time of 26:19.5 to finish fourth overall.
Sophomore Christopher Sims returns as a First Team All-American selection while juniors Anthony Casullo and Justin Shaffer were Second Team picks.
“(Our) team is young, but talented,” co-head coach Andrew Dorr, who with wife Jennifer were named ECC men’s and women’s Coaches of the Year last fall, said.
“We don’t know what to expect and won’t really know the team’s potential until the Harry F. Anderson Invitational on September 23. Justin Shaffer from Webster Schroeder has seen considerable improvement and will be our wildcard this season.”
Newcomers who could impact early include Bryan Forino and Tyler Lipina.
On the women’s side, the Redhawks graduated their two top finishers at last season’s championship meet, but return two top-ten finishers from last year in senior Emily Betts and junior Makenzie Widder.
“Just like men, a young team,” Dorr said. “And we won’t know how good they are until September 23.
“(Senior) Veronica Stauffer seems to have made considerable progress since last year and will be our women’s runner to watch.”
Recruits include freshmen Brittany Shumway, Katie Bellomo and Ashley Watson.
The teams have only four meets scheduled before the conference championships October 21.
