Siena Men's and Women's Cross-Country teams got their seasons underway at the Marist Season Opener at Vassar Farms in Poughkeepsie for a warm up on Saturday morning.

While many of the Saints' top runners were held out, it provided a good opportunity to test out their legs in the first competition of the season.

Both Siena teams placed fifth in the standings with sophomore Colin Brunelle clocking the fastest time among individuals in 31^st place overall with a time of 19:46.9 in the 6K. Several other Saints finished closely behind with Noah Greski (19:51.2), Collin Clinton (19:51.9) and Christopher DeForest (19:55.9) in a tight pack closing out 34^th, 35^th and 38^th. 

Among the women, Katie Helser was the top Saint, finishing in 19:10.7 in the 5K race to place 18^th overall.   Finishing next for Siena were Faith Skowvron (20:01.9) in 30^th, Christina Peppy (20:20.8) in 35^th, Mattingly O'Rourke (20:22.5) in 36^th and Kaitlin DeForest (20:23.4) in 38^th. 

MAAC Preseason Favorite Iona, who entered ranked No. 15 in the NCAA D1 Men's Cross Country National Preseason Poll finished in first place with 17.  Host Marist was second with 71 followed by UAlbany (86), UConn (91), Siena (134) and Fairfield (152). 

In the women's race, host Marist was at the top with 37 points. UConn was second with 42 points followed by UAlbany (72), Fairfield (80) and Siena (124). 
Siena takes back to the course on Saturday, September 14 at the Jasper Invite hosted by Manhattan University in Montgomery, NY at Twin Ponds on the Farm, which will also be the site of the 2024 MAAC Cross Country Championships.