MXC Opens Fall at Monmouth Kick-Off
8/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
The Seton Hall men's cross country team will open the 2014 campaign on Saturday at the 5K Monmouth XC Kickoff.
The Pirates look to replicate what was a great start to the season last fall at the same event; finishing just one point shy of a team victory while registering five top-15 individual finishes.
The performance started a run that featured four consecutive runner-up team finishes to open the new year and the coming weeks may yield more of the same as the trio that led the way for the blue and white in 2013 return for a team that only graduated one runner last season.
Sophomore captain Victor Ricci (Narragansett, R.I.) is coming off a highly successful rookie season in which he was one of just two Pirates to score in all nine meets. Ricci paced The Hall with a third-place effort at Monmouth in his collegiate debut and went on to record the team's fastest times of the season at four of the five distances the squad competed at.
"Victor showed potential in high school, but we were amazed at his performance level as a freshman, and coming into this year, he has really emerged as a leader for us," said head coach John Moon, who has been at the helm for The Hall for over 40 years.
Entering his second season as a team captain, junior Ryan Flannery (Forked River, N.J.) is coming off a season that saw him finish in the top-two for the Pirates in seven out of nine appearances.
He is joined by sophomores Cameron Quisenberry (Owensboro, Ky.) and Alex Mallue (Canton, Ohio) who also scored for The Hall in the 2013 opener.
Quisenberry ranked among the team's top-five performers in all nine meets last season while Mallue contributed five scoring times, including four in championship races.
"Ryan is part of a terrific leadership group that we have and has helped our program elevate its level of performance," Moon said. "This year's sophomore class was a part of that progression as well. Having them coming in and excel the way they did was definitely a turning point for us."
Senior captains Tyler Orner (Sinking Spring, Pa.) and Kevin Walsh (Deltaville, Va.) comprise the other half of a core group that will help guide the program in its fourth year since transitioning exclusively to cross country.
Orner was consistently among the team's top finishers as a junior while Walsh used a fourth-place team finish in the fall finale as a launching point for what turned out to be a stellar spring on the track.
Adding to the strength of an increasingly deep squad is a group of seven more returnees; led by sophomore Sean Kip (Union, N.J.) who recorded six scoring times as a freshman and just missed adding a seventh when he placed 16th overall at Monmouth in his collegiate debut.
"I think what we have accomplished in a short period of time has definitely opened the door for continued progress," said Moon. "We have shown that our program comes ready to compete and I think that dedication is part of how unified we are as a team as well."
"I don't think I've coached a more cohesive group than this one," he added.
Already integrated into that tight-knit unit is a group of five freshmen that looks to help the program continue to raise the bar.
California standout Jeff Larson (Yucca Valley, Calif.) enters the fold following a record-setting senior season at Yucca Valley. He joins a quartet of Garden State products in Louis Bustamante (Hamburg, N.J.), Bryant Cordova (Elizabeth, N.J.) Jimmy Sause (Bloomfield, N.J.) and Jake Simon (Freehold, N.J.) that collected a host of accolades during their prep careers.
"Our team continues to get stronger year to year," said Moon. "I'm excited for Saturday. We have been training at a level where this should be like a workout for us. It's going to be fun to line up against some other teams and show them what we can do."
Saturday's meet will be held at Thompson Park in Lincroft, N.J. and is scheduled to start at 9:35 a.m. For updates on the Pirates, follow @SHUPiratesXC and check back on SHUPirates.com.
