Masai headlines historic day for Pride at CAA cross country championships

The Hofstra Pride men's and women's cross country teams returned to the course in dominant fashion on the morning of Friday, March 5, walking away with one defending champion, two school records and four All-CAA Honors at the 2020 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Cross Country Championships in Wilmington, North Carolina. 

Hofstra's Alex Masai won the men's 8K race for the third straight year with a time of 22:53.50, breaking his own school record by 24 seconds and setting a new CAA Championship meet record by almost a minute. The previous meet record of 23:46.01 stood for over 20 years and was set by the College of William & Mary’s Matt Lane in 1999.

Masai, who is also the reigning NCAA DI Cross Country Northeast Regional champion, cements his name in the history books as only the second runner in CAA history to win three consecutive conference titles. The first runner to do it was James Madison University’s Pete Weilenmann from 1987-1989. Masai was also awarded Most Outstanding Performer of the meet for a third year in a row.

The Pride’s accolades didn't stop there as junior Paul Markovina also earned All-CAA Honors for the first time, finishing in fourth place with a personal best of 24:19.2.

Freshman Aiden Willey came in next for Hofstra clocking in at 25:21.5 to finish 18th overall. Tyler McPartland and Andrew Giovinazzo rounded out the Pride finishing in 49th and 50th place with times of 30:48.80 and 31:48.20, respectively.

An hour before the men, the Pride saw two more first time All-CAA Honors awarded as sophomore Jordyn McDonnell and junior Sophia Masciarelli claimed 8th and 11th place in the women’s 6K race, respectively.  

McDonnell’s time of 20:28.1 broke her own school record by 40 seconds, a record she previously set at the 2019 Northeast Regional meet.

This championship marks the first time the Hofstra’s women’s cross country team has posted two All-CAA runners in the same meet and the first time since 2015 that one has earned the honor.

Coming in next for the Pride was senior Mie Hoff who took 41st with a time of 21:50.2, followed by sophomores Leah Gath and Gianna Rinaldi who claimed 64th and 72nd place, respectively.

On the men’s side, Northeastern University claimed the team title with 27 points, finishing five runners in the top 10 and breaking the 20-year reign of William & Mary. William & Mary placed second and Elon University placed third, with Hofstra placing fourth as a team with 98 points.

For the women, Elon’s Maria Ahm claimed the individual title with a time of 19:37.30 as Elon also claimed the women’s team title for the second year in a row with 35 points. Second and third team placements went to Northeastern and James Madison as Hofstra scored seventh as a team with 163 points.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 cross country season was both shortened and moved to the spring of 2021. Hofstra will hit the course one more time at the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships on Monday, March 15, hosted by Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The selection show determining who qualifies for the national championships will be held on Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m. ET and streamed on NCAA.com.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics