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Marywood Picked as Favorite to Win Atlantic East Men's Cross Country Championship

LANCASTER, Pa. - The 2021 Atlantic East Conference Men's Cross Country Championship is set for Saturday, October 30th. The race will be hosted at Lakeland High School in Scott Township, Pennsylvania by Marywood University.

Prior to the race, the coaches from all seven institutions voted on the 2021 Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll, and Marywood University was selected as the unanimous favorite with 36 points and six first-place votes.

Powered by freshman phenom, Jack Baronski, the Pacers look to win their third consecutive Atlantic East title in men's cross country. In the first two months of his collegiate debut, Baronski has been named an ECAC South Rookie of the Month, awarded the conference runner of the week five times and ran the third-fastest time in Marywood men's cross country program history at Lehigh University's Paul Short Run.

Looking to dethrone Marywood with 27 points and coming in at second in the poll is Immaculata University. Another freshman, Ivan Zavala-Zavala, has been the Mighty Macs' top finisher all season. Zavala-Zavala also just recently broke the 29 minute mark for the first time in his collegiate career.

Gwynedd Mercy University landed just behind Immaculata in third with 26 points and the other first-place vote. Sean Morris, Thomas Bala and Karam Aldarwich have been solid runners for the Griffins this season.

Cabrini University finished fourth in the poll with 21 points and Marymount University was slotted fifth after earning 15 points. Rounding out the poll were Neumann University and Centenary University with 12 and 10 points, respectively. 

Cabrini's Tony Pietrewicz has been a top runner for their program and both Vincent Cassano and Matt Zirkle have raced well for Marymount. Drew Konieczny, a Neumann freshman, has also had a great start to his collegiate career earning runner of the week once this season and consistently finishing as the program's top performer. As for Centenary, Jared Aponte was the top male finisher for the Cyclones in their most recent race.

The men's 8K race is set to begin at 11 am with the women's 6k race following at 12 pm. The awards ceremony will take place at roughly 1:30 pm where the following will be recognized: Team Champion, Team Runner-Up, First-Team and Second-Team All-Conference, Runner of the Year, and Rookie of the Year.

For more information on the Championship visit our championship page here.
 
School Points First-Place Votes
1. Marywood 36 6
2. Immaculata 27 -
3. Gwynedd Mercy 26 1
4. Cabrini 21 -
5. Marymount 15 -
6. Neumann 12 -
7. Centenary 10 -