AMHERST, N.Y. - Daemen University has been picked third in the East Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll which was announced this afternoon following a vote of the league's seven head coaches.
Daemen's No. 3 ranking comes after the team placed fourth at the 2021 ECC Championships. The No. 3 preseason ranking ties for the highest in program history since the Wildcats joined the ECC in 2013. Daemen was also ranked third in the preseason poll in 2017 and 2018.
Roberts Wesleyan, winners of the last seven conference titles, is the unanimous choice at the top of this season's poll. The Redhawks have now topped the last eight ECC preseason polls. RWC garnered all seven first-place votes and 49 total points. St. Thomas Aquinas College (39 points) placed second, while Daemen (34) edged out Molloy College (32 points) for third place. Queens College (18), D'Youville University (13) and The College of Staten Island (11) round out the poll.
Daemen returns 11 runners from last year's team. Juniors Jon Moote (Wilson, N.Y.) and Connor O'Brien (Hamburg, N.Y.) and senior Dominic Clementi (Barker, N.Y.) top the list of returning runners. Moote, who had his freshman season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was the top Daemen finisher in five of the six races he participated in last year. He took home individual medalist honors in his collegiate debut, as he placed first in the Daemen Duels with a time of 28:22.4. He turned in a career-best 8K time (27:03.8) and placed 40th out of 199 runners at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational. O'Brien, who also had his freshman season canceled due to the pandemic, competed in all seven of the team's meets last year and finished second among Daemnen runners in five of the seven races. He posted a career-best 8K time (27:13.2) and finished 14th overall and first among Daenmen runners at the ECC Championships, which earned him second-team All-ECC honors. Clementi competed in five of seven races last year and posted a career-best 8K time (27:45.3) and placed 21st out of 66 runners at the ECC Championships.
The Wildcats open the season September 3 by traveling to Syracuse for the Frank Dillon Memorial Invitational hosted by Le Moyne College. Four additional regular season meets follow, including the Daemen Alumni Invitational (September 10) at Williamsville's Bassett Park. Roberts Wesleyan hosts the ECC Championships on November 5 and the NCAA Division II East Region Championships will take place on Long Island, N.Y. on November 19.
2022 ECC Men's Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Roberts Wesleyan (7) - 49
2. St. Thomas Aquinas - 39
3. DAEMEN - 34
4. Molloy - 32
5. Queens - 18
6. D'Youville - 13
7. Staten Island - 11
( ) denotes first place votes
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
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