NEW YORK (October 27, 2022) – The Butler men’s team and the Georgetown women’s squad are each eyeing a three-peat at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships Presented by JEEP to be held at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass., on Saturday, Oct. 29.

The women’s race begins at 11 a.m. ET and the men’s race starts at 11:50 a.m.  The Highland Park Course will be the cross country host venue for the first time.

The Butler men and the Georgetown women captured their championship crowns last fall at the Northview Church course in Carmel, Ind. Because of COVID, the 2020 championships were held in the spring of 2021 at WakeMed Soccer Park Field in Cary, N.C.

The broadcast of the BIG EAST Cross Country Championship Presented by JEEP is being produced by the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports.  Mike Mancuso will call the races with former collegiate distance running standouts Sam Roecker and Jordan Mann serving as analysts.


To watch the races live on FloSports, click HERE

To view the live results/times, click HERE

Last fall, the Butler men won by placing four runners among the top nine, and finishing with 35 points for the second straight Championship. Georgetown was second with 49 points followed by Villanova (63) and Providence (85). The Bulldogs’ Simon Bedard was the individual winner, edging Villanova’s Haftu Strintzos by 1.7 seconds.

On the women’s side, Georgetown won with 65 points, holding off Butler with 67 points and Connecticut (70). The Hoyas’ Maggie Donahue finished first just 1.5 seconds ahead of Villanova’s Lydia Olivere.

Men’s Preview
Butler returns a good chunk of its lineup that captured last year’s crown. Barry Keane, who finished third, and Jesse Hamlin have been the leaders this fall. Both registered top-five performances at the recent NCAA Pre-Nationals Meet in Stillwater, Okla. Transfer Matthew Forrester has been a consistent force. Evan Byrne, Jack McMahon, Will Minnette and Ryan Adkins ran for last year’s title squad. McMahon finished ninth individually.

Georgetown is led by senior Parker Stokes, who was the top BIG EAST finisher at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite. He also was the top Hoya finisher at last year’s Championship, placing sixth. The Hoyas are ranked 26th nationally going into the Championship. In the last eight years, the Hoyas have won four titles and have finished second four times.

Villanova can point to Haftu Strintzos, one of the league’s outstanding performers.  The graduate student was last year’s runner-up and was the individual champion in the previous Championship in the spring of ‘21. The Wildcats are currently ranked 11^th nationally, their highest position since 2014. Strintzos, Charlie O’Donovan and Josh Phillips have been the core of the VU lineup for the past three years. They are joined by strong sophomores Liam Murphy and Jack Jennings. The Wildcats finished third last fall.

Providence graduate student Marcelo Rocha took fourth place at last year’s Championship and was eighth in the previous Championship. This fall, junior Liam Back has led the Friars in two races this season. He finished first on the team at the Friar Invitational and third overall and led the Friars at the Lehigh Paul Short Invite. Back took eighth place in last year’s Championship. Graduate transfer David Principe Jr. has enjoyed a consistent fall season.

DePaul finished third at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational with seniors Shane Knanishu and Dominic Bruce leading the way. The Blue Demons finished fifth at last year’s Championship.

Marquette junior David Zeller has finished first for the Golden Eagles in each of their last two meets (Notre Dame and Bradley). Sophomore Tyler Re has two first-place team finishes and is coming off a personal best at the Bradley “Pink” Classic. Eight MU runners have recorded personal best times this fall.

Xavier is coming off a 21^st-place finish at the Bradley “Pink” Classic. The Musketeers had two in the top five in their last meet of the fall. Adrian Stuphan and Trevor Nolan posted top-five school performances. 

Creighton junior Marcos Gonzalez set a school 8K record at the Gans Creek Classic on Sept. 30 with a time of 24:33.4. Two weeks later, sophomore Tommy Ward broke the record when he ran a time of 24:32.4 at the Platte River Rumble. The team led the nation last fall with a 3.76 GPA.

Seton Hall has been led by senior John Loeffel, who has three top-five finishes this fall. He led the Pirates to team wins at the Md.-Eastern Shore Farm Run and the NJIT Highlander Challenge. He was the medalist at the UMES meet.

Women’s Preview
Georgetown can start its Championship resume with graduate student Maggie Donahue, who is the defending individual champion. She placed second in the previous Championship. This past summer Donahue was named BIG EAST Female Student-Athlete of the Year for 2021-22. Graduate student Sami Corman finished sixth in last year’s Championship and was the winner in the previous spring. The Hoyas are tied for 12^th in the national rankings going into this Championship.

Butler redshirt-sophomore Mia Beckham, who finished 12^th in last year’s Championship, has led the Bulldogs in each of her races this fall. She won the Redbird Invitational. Classmate Abby Olson has also enjoyed a strong fall season. Butler took second place last year.

Connecticut graduate student Randi Burr has been the Husky leader this fall. She is coming off a solid 23^rd-place finish at the Panorama Farms Invite at U. of Virginia. Juniors Jenna Zyadanowicz and Chloe Thomas have been strong performers behind Burr. Thomas took seventh place at last year’s Championship. Burr finished fifth two Championships ago. UConn was third last year.

Villanova is led by senior Lydia Olivere, who will be aiming for her fourth career finish in the top three. She was the runner-up last year, took third place in the previous spring and was the individual champion in 2019. She has been the team’s top finisher 11 times during her career. Sophomore Emily Robinson has finished second in the lineup in two of her three races this fall.

Providence has enjoyed a consistent presence in the top 20 this fall and is currently ranked 18^th. Senior Lily Tuck took first place in the Friar Invitational, which was held on the Highland Park course. Freshman Jane Buckley finished first for PC at the Lehigh Paul Short Invite and the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite. The Friars finished fifth last year.  

Marquette junior Kate Jochims has been the Golden Eagle leader. She began the season by winning the Walt Crawford Classic at Eastern Illinois and helped MU to a first-place team finish. She has finished first on the team in four of her five meets.

Xavier grabbed a second-place finish at the Greater Louisville Classic. Parker Hopkins led the way, finishing eighth. In the last meet of the fall, the team was 13^th at the Bradley “Pink” Classic.

DePaul has been led by senior Olivia Borowiak for a second consecutive season. She has two first-place finishes, winning the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational wire-to-wire and taking the three-mile Bradley Invitational.

Creighton senior Danielle Hotaling, who was the Bluejays’ top finisher at last year’s Championship, has missed her last three meets due to injury. Sophomore Morgan Koca has emerged as the top runner followed by freshman Caroline Rupper. The team ranked seventh nationally last fall in GPA at 3.83. CU was the only school other than Harvard that was ranked in the top 10 in the men’s and women’s programs.   

St. John’s tied its best result in program history at the recent Metropolitan Championships, with a runner-up finish for a second straight year. Freshman Ezgi Yasar posted her third straight 5K time of 19:40 or better.

Seton Hall senior Nancy Habib has been the clear leader for the Pirates. She was the pacesetter in team wins at the Md.-Eastern Shore Farm Run and the NJIT Highlander Invitational. Habib has posted four first-place finishes.