Courtesy of Clarus Multimedia Group
Think of how good your favorite sports teams would be without the potential of injury. How many points could they score? Where would they rank? What kind of mark would they have left on history? In an ideal world, sports teams wouldn’t have to focus on keeping their athletes healthy. Even the best athletes and teams have to deal with injury and sickness, the great ones just figure out how to overcome them.
That’s where the men’s cross country team found itself this past Saturday, when it hosted 26 teams for their annual home meet at Harkness State Park. Before Saturday’s meet, the team had already ran five races. But with multiple runners out sick or hurt, the top seven competed in only three of those races.
Brendan Mellitt ‘24 and Ethan Bush ‘24 have been consistently placing well among strong fields. At the Conn Invite, Bush placed 39th out of 209 runners. Mellitt crossed the line in 80th, a solid finish considering his spikes blew out within the first few minutes of the race forcing him to finish the 8K without shoes. Rounding out the scoring was Harry Harwood ‘25, Chris Davis ‘24, and Ellis Iurilli-Hough ‘27 who placed 82nd, 88th, and 94th respectively. Blake Rogers ‘25 and Ronan Staab ‘27 also looked strong taking the sixth and seventh spots for the team. The team placed 14th overall, with nine runners racing under 27 minutes.
What could the rest of the season look like for the men’s team? Two key runners, Matt Scardigno ‘25 and Jonathan Norton ‘26, are out for the remainder of the season. Harwood and Rogers are starting to come into form now, with Rogers inching back from a spring appendix surgery. Additionally, the loss of important runners like All-Americans Jeff Love ‘23 and Matt Carter ‘23 have left a hole in the team’s depth.
Faced with this adversity, the Camels have continued to stay optimistic. “I think we need to keep faith in ourselves. Everyone does the physical side of the training pretty well, but the difference is made by the mental side. That’s where we can find our advantage, and I think we’ve done really well with that both last year and this year in gritting out those close wins over teams we really wanted to beat,” said captain Mellitt.
That faith is what keeps runners focused and motivated during the latter stages of one of the longest seasons in college sports. But given the fact that it’s 2023 and the NCAA Division III is the most competitive it’s ever been, Conn needs to prove themselves in these next few races if they want a bid to the National Championship on November 18th.
So as the men of the desert head to Amherst this weekend for the NESCAC championship, the team is looking at the positives. The home meet at Harkness has given them momentum to finish the season strong and consider what next year’s team will bring. It starts with Coach Sam Alexander, who is starting his first full year with the team. A former professional runner, Alexander helped recruit one of the strongest first-year classes in recent years. And with a basket of juniors waiting to call their shot as senior contributors, the 2024 season is looking promising. Scardigno and Norton look to assume the top two returning positions, the freshman will have a year of college training under their belt, Harwood and Rogers will have the opportunity to train hard while abroad during the winter and spring, and many others recovering from injuries will finally be at full strength. There’s also the potential for unexpected members of the squad to step up at the right time. In the sub-varsity race, Lucas Vasquez ‘25 and Nicholas DeMarco ‘26 were the top two finishers for the Camels, nearly beating the varsity’s seven and eight based on time. Zach Stoddard ‘26 and Tony Belford ‘27 have also looked strong all season. Any of these men could play an important role in the team’s development in the coming years.
“The future is bright for this team, we’re deeper than we’ve ever been. Even as the old guard is phased out, there’s just as much talent, if not more, to replace it.” says Mellitt.
All things considered, the team is currently ranked 7th in one the toughest conferences in the nation.
Fighting for this season won’t be easy, but with a little luck, Conn still has a shot. It all comes down to these next two races. This weekend if Conn can beat teams like Bates or Wesleyan, it will put them in a good position looking ahead to the Mid-East Regional meet, where the men will need to secure crucial wins over similarly ranked inter-region teams like Vassar and St. Lawrence to have a shot at qualifying for the National Championships as a team. The men can even take some motivation from the women’s team, who were recently ranked 26th in the nation.
“The future of Conn XC is bright. Echoing something that Coach Sam said, we’ve had a ton of guys step up and take crucial positions when it mattered most. From here on in we need to be opportunistic, we need to pack up, and we need to play on our strengths in order to stay in the hunt for that team bid,” said captain Robbie Lynch ‘24.
Judgment time has come for men’s XC, and one thing is for sure: Camels aren’t known for going down without a fight.
