Siena Men's Cross Country sophomore Brandon Olden began the Spring 2021 season in dominant fashion, winning the Men's 8k race at the Jasper Winter XC Invitational in Montgomery, New York Saturday afternoon. Olden helped the men place third out of five MAAC programs to kick off the year, while the women also placed third out of five opponents.
"It was really great to be back on the course again racing," Head Coach John Kenworthy said. "I was very pleased with how well we competed and with the overall results. Having a long winter break with only a week to prepare as a group on campus just highlights how much dedication and commitment this group has."
The competition marked the first of the Spring 2021 season for a non-basketball program at Siena, and the first non-basketball regular season action of any kind in over 11 months. A native of Chestertown, NY, Olden clocked a time of 25:37.0, which was good for 22-and-a-half seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Senior Aidan Canavan (26:23.8) placed sixth overall to join olden in the top-10, while graduate student Stosh Davis (26:40.9) turned in an 11th place finish. Monmouth scored 32 points to take the team title for the men, while Rider bested Siena by five points for second.
The women's 5K also featured a top-3 finisher for the Saints, with junior Olivia Lomascolo placing second overall with a time of 18:24.3. Sophomore Elaine Atanasova (18:53.5) finished sixth, while senior Regina Rosati (19:02.0) took home 10th place. Quinnipiac scored 34 points for the women's team title, while Monmouth finished four points ahead of Siena for second.
"This is a great starting point, but we still have work to do and improvements to make if we expect to compete at the top of the MAAC and change some of the team results from today," Kenworthy added. "I'm confident that we're up to that task!"
Following the completion of their initial meet of the season, Siena will now turn its attention to the 2021 MAAC Men's & Women's Cross Country Championships, which are set for Friday, March 5 at Seaview Golf Club in Galloway, New Jersey. The Saints will look to build on second and third place finishes from the men and women, respectively, during each of the last two seasons.
