MXC Closes Season at IC4A Championships
11/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 22, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The 2013 season will come to a close for the Seton Hall men's cross country team on Saturday afternoon as the Pirates will toe the line one more time at the 8K IC4A Championships, their ninth meet of the season.
Seton Hall is coming off an appearance at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional that was highlighted by the fact that the scoring contingent featured five underclassmen and will be returning to Van Cortlandt Park for the second time this fall.
Sophomore Ryan Flannery (Forked River, N.J.), The Hall's top finisher at last year's IC4A event, led the way for the third time in the last five races and the fourth in his career overall. Flannery ranks in the top-three on the squad at all four distances that the Pirates have competed at in 2013, including a personal-best 8K time of 27:17 at the BIG EAST Championships that ranks third on the squad.
One meet after pacing the team at the BIG EAST Championships with the two fastest 8K times it has posted all season, Victor Ricci (Narragansett, R.I.) and Cameron Quisenberry (Owensboro, Ky.) were the first two of four consecutive freshmen who followed Flannery to the line at the regional. Ricci holds the Pirates' top marks at the 5, 6 and 8K distances while Quisenberry placed a season-best second on the team when SHU last ran at VCP as part of the Metropolitan Championships in October.
Newcomer Sean Kip (Union, N.J.) finished fourth on the squad at the NCAA regional meet, returning to the scoring group for the sixth time in his first year of competition. Kip is one of three Pirates who have led the team in a race this season, guiding the Pirates with a 41st-place effort at the Mets. Kip then ranked third for SHU at the Leopard Invitational, turning in an 8K time of 27:36.07 that is fifth-best on the men's squad in 2013.
Classmate Alex Mallue (Canton, Ohio) rounded out the Seton Hall top-five at the regional meet, scoring for the second consecutive outing and the third overall this season.
While the impact freshmen will be taking their first crack at the IC4A event, Seton Hall brings back two more runners in senior Carl Johnston (Surrey, British Columbia) and junior Tyler Orner (Sinking Spring, Pa.) that helped the team close last season with a strong showing.
Johnston posted the team's fourth-fastest 8K time of the year at the Leopard Invitational and has scored on six occasions in his final campaign. Orner returns after finishing third on the team at the IC4A Championship as a sophomore.
The men's team as a whole has greatly improved its results in a short, one-year span due in large part to added depth in the lineup. The squad has been boosted by the return of brothers Kevin Walsh (Deltaville, Va.) and John Walsh (Deltaville, Va.) who recently discussed their return to the course after seeing limited action in 2012 due to injury.
The Hall will be among 20 schools with their eyes set on taking the team title away from reigning university division champions Fairfield. The men's university race is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m.
