Complete Results
NEC XC Championship Headquarters

Loretto, PA - The Wagner men's cross country team earned a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Northeast Conference (NEC) Cross Country Championships, held in Loretto, PA on Saturday morning.

Individually, freshman Liam Harris (Cork, Ireland/Kent School [CT]) placed third overall in the event en route to claiming the NEC Freshman of the Year and being named to the All-Conference Team.

For Harris, he becomes just the second Seahawk in program history to be named NEC Freshman of the Year, joining former harrier great Derek Rammelkamp ['10], who won the award back in 2007, as the only runners in Wagner history to accomplish the feat. 

Central Connecticut claimed its eighth straight NEC Men's Cross Country crown, becoming just the second NEC program in any sport to win eight consecutive titles.  Sacred Heart finished second, scoring 53 points while the host Red Flash placed third with 69 points. 

Rounding out the field was Mount St. Mary's in fourth (120), Wagner in fifth (145), Bryant in sixth (151), St. Francis Brooklyn (154) and Fairleigh Dickinson (204). 

Harris crossed the finish line just 33 seconds behind Sacred Heart's Connor Rog, who claimed the individual title and was named NEC Outstanding Runner. Harris was one of the top freshmen racing in the NEC all season and won three NEC Rookie of the Week awards during the season. 

The Green & White garnered three runners among the top-50 from the morning's championship run, which included freshman Jonathan Besselink's (Kingston, Ontario/Holy Cross Catholic Secondary) 26th place showing, clocking in with a time of  30:02.7. Junior Joseph Abbatiello (Fredericksburg, VA/Stafford) and sophomore Matthew Whalen (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown East) placed 34th and 35th, respectively, with times of 30:36.2 and 30:38.1. 

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