Men's Cross Country | 10/28/2017 12:56:00 PM

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The RIT men's cross country team placed third out of nine teams at the 2017 Liberty League Men's Cross Country Championship at Vassar Farms on the campus of Vassar College Saturday. RIT, who entered the race ranked seventh in the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region, posted a team score of 85 points.
 
Rensselaer, ranked second in the Atlantic Region and eighth in the USTFCCCA Division III National poll, won the Liberty League Championship for the second consecutive season, finishing with a team score of 38 points. St. Lawrence, third in the region and 27th nationally, was second with a team score of 51 points.
 
Grant O'Connor of Rensselaer won the Liberty League individual title, using a late burst to complete the 8,000-meter course in 24:55.9.
 
RIT's Otto Kingstedt (Stockholm, Sweden/Cybergymnasiet), who came into today's championship having won all three of his previous races this season, led throughout before O'Connor's late burst, finishing the course in 25:12.7 to earn All-Liberty League first team accolades.
 
Senior James Bailey (Danvers, MA/Danvers) earned his third straight All-Liberty League first team selection, placing sixth overall in a time of 26:00.7. Bailey was fourth at the halfway mark of the race.
 
Junior Evan Feigel (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) placed 20th overall in a time of 26:51.6, while senior John Mooney (Norwich, NY/Norwich) was right behind in 24th, crossing the finish line in 26:57.8. Junior Dan Jones (Lockport, NY/Lockport) was RIT's fifth-best finisher, placing 40th overall in 27:29.4.
 
Freshmen Doug Luba (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth-Whitemarsh) (45th overall – 27:42.9) and Ethan Wyman (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls) (47th – 27:43.9), along with junior Nate Butler (Warren, OH/Lakeview) (48th – 27:46.1) garnered top-50 finishes for the Tigers.

"Today's race was a baseline for us right now," said RIT head coach David Warth. "Our team is ready to take it to another level, but we haven't put it together yet. This was Otto's first test against a great runner and he learned a lot that will help him over the next three weeks."

RIT is off next weekend but returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 11 at the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships at Houghton College at 12 p.m.