Men's Cross Country Team Wins UAA Title

Violets Capture Fourth Straight Championship

Maher won the UAA individual title and Most Valuable Runner honors.

The New York University men's cross country team has done it again! For the fourth consecutive season, head coach Nick McDonough's runners have captured the University Athletic Association Championship.

Senior Zach Maher's winning performance over the muddy 8,000-meter course on Saturday headed a group of four Violets in the top 10. The NYU runners totaled 41 points to finish comfortably ahead of Emory University and Carnegie Mellon University, each with 67 points.

Running at the Squire Valleevue Farm in Hunting Valley, OH, following an all-night rain shower, Maher's time of 26:06.72 was more than 13 seconds faster than runner-up Paul Norton of Brandeis University (26:19.80).

Maher, who finished fourth in 2008, was the third consecutive NYU runner to win the race (Ryan Williams '07, Jesse Schneider '08), and fourth in the last five years (Hany Abdallah '05).

For his efforts, Maher was named UAA Most Valuable Runner.

"Zach ran a tremendous race in cold, windy and wet conditions," McDonough said. "He stayed in the lead pack from the beginning. Then, after the four-mile mark, he made a hard move and broke away."

The Violets' next finisher was Matt Turlip, who took fifth place (for the second consecutive season) in a time of 26:31.29.

"Matt was in the lead pack most of the way," McDonough explained. "He got out well and did the job."

NYU's other top-10 finishers were Sebastian Schwelm (26:40.87) and Calvin Lee (26:42.74), who placed ninth and 10th, respectively.

Jack Fitzhenry rounded out the top five for NYU with his 16th-place performance (26:58.94).

NYU wound up placing all nine runners within the top 32, as Ryan Boyd (17th place), Robert Joynt (22nd), Andrew Zitek (27th), and Kevin Bonilla (32nd) all ran well.

"It was the best race, top-to-bottom, that we've ever had at the UAA," McDonough said.

The Violets are currently ranked seventh in the nation by the USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association). They defeated three other ranked teams: Emory (#12), Carnegie Mellon (#19) and Brandeis (#23) on Saturday.

"We're tremendously happy to win the race. We did what we should have," McDonough said. "This is a new team. A new day. These are not the same guys who won the National Championship in 2007. They are making their own mark in the toughest conference in the nation."

The Violets now prepare for the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship in Geneseo, NY, on Saturday, Nov. 14, with another entry to the NCAA Division III Championship at stake.