Cross Country Opens 2017 at Monmouth Saturday

South Orange, N.J. – The Seton Hall men's and women's cross country teams are set to open 2017 following an offseason of intense and competitive training, and will begin the campaign at the Monmouth Kick-Off race in Lincroft, N.J. on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m.

Last season, each team took second place at the Monmouth Kick-Off. The women were led by Christiana Rutkowski (Middletown, N.J.), who finished the 4K course in 15:21.51 to place 11th overall. On the men's side, Bryant Cordova headlined five Top-12 finishes with a 6K time of 19:22.26.

Each team has a different dynamic with their respective rosters. The women welcome five freshmen to campus, while the men lost five runners to graduation and only brought on one new Pirate. It will be up to the captains to experiment how to ultimately get the most out of each of their squads.

Head coach John Moon named Rutkowski, senior Emily Johnson (Wildwood Crest, N.J.), junior Jarod Moser (Duncanville, Texas), and seniors Jeff Larson (Yucca Valley, Calif.) and Jake Simon (Freehold, N.J.) captains for the 2017 season.

The men return arguably their top three runners from a season ago in Moser and fellow seniors Bryant Cordova (Elizabeth, N.J.) and Louis Bustamante (Hamburg, N.J.). The trio was consistently the top three runners for the Pirates and one of the three led Seton Hall in five of the seven races in 2016.

Similarly, the women bring back the majority of the team from last season and are expecting big things from Rutkowski, Johnson and Britten, who were all regular Top-3 finishers for the Pirates in 2016. Coach Moon also has high expectations for freshmen twins Emily Hernandez and Olivia Hernandez (East Brunswick, N.J.).

"I expect the Hernandez twins to come in and contribute immediately," said Moon. "They impressed me over the summer and should put up some serious numbers alongside the top BIG EAST competition."

The Pirates will race each of the first four Saturdays in September. Following Monmouth, the teams will be at Stony Brook, Maryland Eastern Shore and Stockton. The Metropolitan Championship is on Oct. 6, the BIG EAST Championship is Oct. 28 in Kenosha, Wis. Seton Hall concludes its season at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals on Nov. 10 and the ECAC Championship on Nov. 18 at Van Cortlandt Park.