BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Men's Cross Country team finished as Commonwealth Coast Conference Champions for the 11th year in a row.
“Conditions deteriorated as the race wore on, but the whole team ran smart, tactical races,” said Head Coach Sean Livingston. “We weren't winning the race after the mile, but the top six showed patience and picked runners off over the last four miles.
Freshman Kevin Terbush (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) served up a stellar performance, winning the meet with a time of 27:43 to earn both CCC Runner of the Year and CCC Rookie of the Year honors.
John Ferguson (Bethel, Conn.) repeated his second place overall finish from last year, coming in five seconds after Terbush to earn All-CCC honors.
“I know he wanted that individual title badly and he was right there but came up just short,” said Livingston. “This guy had a burst appendix over the summer, so for him to have the kind of season he's having shows the talent he has. His best races are ahead of him.”
Freshmen Jack Dunleavy (Orange, Conn.) and Sean Doyle (Guilderland, N.Y.) were fourth and fifth with respective times of 27:56 and 28:03, which solidified the win. Junior Steven Carnevale (Easton, Mass.) put the hammer down over the final 300 meters, passing four runners to finish 11th in 28:29, missing all-conference honors by a mere two seconds.
“He has improved so much from last year and to be our 5th guy today was fitting.”
Freshman Joshua Lopes (South Dennis, Mass.) had a solid effort, coming in 13th place, three second behind Carnevale. Junior Jeff Pini (Wellesley, Mass.) had his best finish in his third conference race, rounding out the Hawks' top seven with a 17th-place finish in 27:11.
“We've got a young team here—no seniors and four freshmen on the varsity team,” said Livingston. “I hope these guys realize how good they can become if they want it bad enough. The goal was to win this race and they did exactly what they needed to in order to make that happen.”
