Men's Cross Country | 11/17/2014 3:08:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY - Senior Matt Giannino (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) of the RIT men's cross country team was named the Liberty League Cross Country Runner of the Week on Monday, for the week ending Nov. 16, 2014. It is Giannino's fifth weekly honor of the season and 14th of his storied career.

Giannino defeated 284 other runners to claim the 2014 NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship on Saturday morning at nearby Genesee Valley Park. He is RIT's first Atlantic Regional winner since the format was changed from New York to Atlantic in 1997.

Giannino blazed the 8,000-meter course in a snappy time of 25:08.7, defeating second place finisher Sebastian Oja of NYU by just under three seconds, finishing with a mile rate of 5:04. Giannino was 23rd after the 2,000-meter split and jumped to 13th at the 4,000-meter split. Giannino began his big kick soon after, vaulting to third at the 6,000-meter split and unleashed an incredible time of 6:08.2 over the final 2,000-meters to take the lead and win the race, his fifth of the season.

He became the first RIT runner to win a regional event since Tony Fraij won the final New York Regional in 1996. A RIT runner won five straight New York State Regionals from 1992-1996.

Giannino has won five different races this season and will be in action on Saturday, Nov. 22 at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships hosted by Wilmington College in Mason, Ohio. The meet begins at 11 a.m.