Sept. 5, 2003

FAIRFIELD, CT (September 5, 2003) - The Sacred Heart men and women's cross country teams open their 2003 season on Saturday at the Stony Brook University Seawolve Invitational with a wealth of senior leadership, experience and talent filling out this year's roster. Both teams sit poised and ready to make a run at this year's Northeast Conference title.

Senior Matthew Uzenski (Ocean, NJ) returns for his senior year and looks stronger than ever. He spent the summer in Colorado training at altitude, and did some of his training runs with members of the University of Colorado team, a perennially top-five ranked team in Division One. Sophomore Robert Howard (Levittown, NY) appears ready to make a big jump this season and will push to be the teams number two runner. Senior co-captain Andrew Renna (Danbury, CT), sophomore Tyler Arnett (Clinton Corners, NY), senior Joseph Zalak (Middle Village, NY) and sophomore Robert Gill (Braintree, MA) will provide a strong nucleus of experienced runners who should fill out the rest of the top six and will be trading positions all season. Junior Michael Hannon (Stony Point, NY) also appears ready to make a jump from last season, is likely to battle with senior Michael Berluti (Northfield, CT), junior Ian Ferrara (Warwick, RI), and sophomore Andrew Vaccaro (Larchmont, NY) along with freshmen Timothy Larson (Smithfield, RI), Christopher Dowsey (Medford, NY), Rob McDermott (Lindenhurst, NY) and Steven Wrinkle (Medford, NY) for the seventh spot.

"The men were picked seventh in the NEC preseason coaches poll, but could have an excellent chance of cracking the top-five this year," stated head coach Christian Morrison. "This is a hardworking group. They did more miles over the summer than any men's team in school history."

Despite the loss of key runners Suzy D'Angelo, Kristi Plourde and Mandi Orrok to graduation, this year's Pioneer team is the deepest and most talented team in school history. Coach Morrison has added a talented group of freshmen to a dedicated and battle-tested group of returnees that once again, put this team among the biggest all of Division One. How deep are the Pioneers? As many as 21 women appear to have a shot at making the top-seven this season. Like the men, this group ran more miles over the summer than any women's team in school history.

"After finishing second in the NEC the last two years to St. Francis of PA, the women are hungry and focused, as they gun for their first conference title ever," commented the head coach. "They will have to catch St. Francis of PA and will have to hold off two or three other teams in the process."

Who better to lead this bunch then the return of senior captain Katie Wrinkle (Medford, NY). Wrinkle is one of the top returnees in the NEC and poised for her best season ever. "Heading into the season, she should be one of three or four women from different schools who have a shot at winning the individual conference crown," stated Morrison.

Fellow senior Christina Mendoza (Union City, NJ) is the number eight returnee from last year's NEC Championship race, senior Suzanne Neglia (Andover, NJ) is number nine and junior Cheryl Beaulieu (East Hampton, CT) is number sixteen and all are in excellent early season form. Sophomore Erin Kulasewski (West Warwick, RI), who was a top-five runner for us before she suffered a mid-season injury last year, also looks ready to contribute to the drive for a conference title. Freshman twin sisters, Annie and Katie Duffy (Monroe, CT) are the newcomers most likely to contend for a top-five position on the team. As converted swimmers, neither Duffy has ever run cross-country before, but both have been amongst Connecticut's top-high school distance runners on the track over the past four years. Katie Duffy was the Connecticut State Open champion at 3200-meters during the indoor season last winter, and both have won All-State and All-New England honors over their high school careers.

Other runners who will be counted on this season include seniors Colleen Cotter (Holliston, MA), Emily Marks (New Milford, CT), Kathryn Muccino (Farmington, CT), Erin Roche (Stony Point, NY) and Sara Tasber (Henrietta, NY), juniors Jackie Donatelli (Scituate, RI), a converted sprinter, and Terressa Howard (Meridan, CT), sophomores Katelyn Botsford (Cresskill, NY), Kaitlin Clark (Babylon, NY) and Jenna Pisani (Vernon, NJ) and freshmen Lauren DellaVolpe (Danbury, CT), Justine Fallon (Strafford, NH), Julia Mahoney (Topsfield, MA), and Kathryn O'Connor (Bellmore, NY).

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