The Northeastern men’s cross country team opened their season strong today, finishing first in the 8km race at the CAA meet preview held at Winnabow, N.C against University of North Carolina Wilmington and Elon University. Multiple personal records and a school record were broken despite it being their first race since COVID-19 shut down the NU athletics program in Spring 2019. 

Graduate student Cameron Dickson placed first and broke a personal record by almost a minute and a school record in the 8 km race with a time of 23:45.65. The previous record for the men’s 8k was held by Dan Romano who ran a 24:11.4 in the CAA Championships of 2018. In the previous 2019 fall season, Dickson was named All-CAA First Team and placed eighth in the 8k at the CAA Championships of November 2019. 

Junior Alexander Korczynski, who also broke a personal record, ran with a time of 24:12.63.  Korczynski was named in 2019 to the All-CAA Second Team as a sophomore and led the Huskies at the NCAA Northeast Regionals in November 2019. In the last CAA championships, he placed ninth in the 8km race with a time of 25:07.8. 

Third place saw a new face for the NU cross country team as New Zealand native and sophomore Max Spencer came in with a time of 24:38.02. This race marks Spencer’s first race on the cross country team, although he did compete with the NU track and field team as a mid-distance runner during the indoor season of 2019-2020. 

Senior Bryan Keller, senior Eric Clay and sophomore Nicholas Young also broke personal records at this race. Overall, the Huskies placed first, competing against 12 other runners from University of North Carolina Wilmington and Elon, who are also in the CAA. This meet preview was held on the same course that the CAA championships will be held at later this season, March 5. 

“This meet and these performances set the team up to have a really successful season,” said head coach Tramaine Shaw in a video interview. “I think this is going to serve as motivation for the rest of the program both during the indoor, the outdoor and the remainder of the cross country season.” 

The team will continue to train toward the cross country CAA and NCAA championships in March, as well as the track and field NCAA championships.

“It’s nice to see the hard work they’ve put in, since our closures back in March, finally pay off,” Shaw said. 

The Northeastern men’s and women’s track and field teams have both released their spring season schedule and will begin competing tomorrow at West Point, N.Y. against Army. For the men’s cross country team, the next race will be held Feb. 20 in Durham, N.H.