With Coach Bob Symons on their side, Felician College’s new Cross Country team has hit the ground running—all the way to a first place standing in its inaugural season. As the coach of three-time Olympic Athlete Dannett Young, Symons knows what it takes to win. Under Symons’ tutelage from 1988 to 1996, Young won two silvers and one gold medal at the Olympic Games in the four-by-one Olympic relay race.

The kind of training that helped Young achieve Olympic gold now extends to the athletes of Felician College’s new Cross Country team. And it shows. Finishing third out of 21 teams at their first invitational, hosted by William Paterson University on September 9, the men’s team of 13 runners placed first in its three subsequent meets at Dominican College, the Teikyo Post University Invitational, and the Drew University Invitational. Similarly, the women’s team of 15 placed twelfth at the first invitational and placed first in their second and third meets.

Those wins have placed the men first in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, and have placed the women second. “Both the men’s and the women’s teams are very enthusiastic and team-oriented. For a young team to be ranked so high early in the season is very impressive,” says Coach Symons.

Although these races are important, they serve as a warm-up to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference race on November 4 where the winning team qualifies for the national meet in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Six men’s and six women’s teams will be competing for the opportunity to race in the national meet against 38 teams. “Our chances are good,” says Symons, “especially if the teams continue to perform at the level which has placed them first and second just three meets into the season.”

Filling a need for another men’s and women’s sport on campus, Symons says that adding cross-country made sense. “This is a great sport to have on campus since it does not required any specific facility for practice,” says Symons, noting that the team uses area county parks for its practices. In addition to attracting runners, Cross Country attracts other team athletes who enjoy running and are looking to stay in shape during their off-seasons. Three of the women on the team also play basketball.

As the Cross Country season ends on November 18, Felician College’s new track team will just be getting started. Practicing on Memorial Field in Rutherford, NJ, the team will compete in its first indoor meet in early December kicking off a season that concludes in May.

Felician College is a coeducational, liberal arts, Catholic college, founded in the Franciscan tradition by the Felician Sisters in 1942. Located on two campuses in Lodi and Rutherford, NJ, Felician College enrolls 1500 students in 40 undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts and sciences, health sciences, and teacher education.