BRONX, NY – Siena Cross Country & Track concluded the 2021 cross country season with one of its most impressive performances of the season, taking part in the ECAC/IC4A Championship Meet at historic Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx, New York.

The women's team placed second out of 13 regional competitors for its best finish in program history, while the men took fifth out of 12 teams. Columbia took the top team spot in both races, with the Saints finishing just seven points behind in the women's race.

"Today was a great way to end the season with Brandon taking the win and our women finishing second," head coach John Kenworthy said. "We're lucky to be returning our whole scoring group for the women and our men are young as well. We will definitely take lessons from this season and build into track and next fall as well."

A new standard was set individually on the men's side, as junior Brandon Olden won the men's 8k with a time of 25:22, becoming the program's first-ever ECAC winner on either side and logging the second-fastest time at Van Cortlandt Park in over 40 years of Siena competition there. The Chestertown, NY native was one of five men's runners to finish inside the top-40 individually to earn All-IC4A honors. Sophomore Christopher DeForest (26:18) finished 25^th, while graduate student Aidan Canavan (26:26) placed 30^th, junior Tommy Anderson (26:28) took 31^st, and sophomore Killian McNamee (26:31) placed 33^rd. 

The women followed up a runner-up finish at the 2021 MAAC Cross Country Championships with the same result at ECAC's, with senior Olivia Lomascolo leading the way with a sixth-place finish. Her time of 18:14 was also good for the second-fastest run at Van Cortlandt Park in team history. The Ballston Lake native led the way for six Saints to earn All-East honors as top-40 finishers on the women's side. Junior Keira Cohen (18:41) finished 12^th, graduate student Regina Rosati (18:42) placed 14^th, junior Elaine Atanasova (18:54) took 16^th, freshman Kayla Schmidt (18:54) took 18^th, and junior Sophia Vinciguerra (19:23) finished 35^th.

Siena will look to use the impressive performance as a momentum boost into the 2021-22 indoor track season, which begins next month.