PENNINGTON, New Jersey - The Marist men's cross country team posted a second-place finish out of 11 teams at the 2015 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships on Oct. 31 at Rosedale Park. 

"This was truly a remarkable performance by a group of men that I admire greatly, " Director of Men's and Women's Cross Country Pete Colaizzo said. They showed extreme toughness in a stacked field. I couldn't be more proud of a team than this."

Colaizzo was named the 2015 MAAC Cross Country Men's Coach of the Year during the awards banquet following the race. 

The Red Foxes slid up two spots from last year's conference title meet, placing just behind Iona for the program's highest finish since 2011. For the first time in program history, Marist's top five finishers all recorded times under 25 minutes. The second place finish was the 11th all time.

Senior John Lee clocked in at the fastest time for the Red Foxes on the 8K course (24:34.37) for 14th place. Junior Spencer Johnson (24:38.62; 16th place), sophomore Dietrich Mosel (24:40.5; 18th place), junior Brian Edsall (24:44.8; 20th place) and junior Stefan Morton (24:52.94; 25th place) rounded out the top 25 on the course. Joining the top Marist finishers were senior Patrick Rynkowski in 32nd place (25:03.09) and freshman Riley Hughes in 39th place (25:09.82). 

"Our one through five spread at top speed was incredible," Colaizzo said. "Our depth got it done for us. To get second with no All-MAAC performers is virtually unheard of. It's a testament to their team first mindset." 

The Red Foxes had 93 points on the afternoon to Iona's 15 as the Gaels took the MAAC title for the 25th consecutive season.

Afterwards at the MAAC awards banquet the 2015 MAAC All-Academic teams were also announced, Marist led the way in the MAAC along with Iona and had 18 student-athletes selected to the team.

Marist Individual Results: 18- John Lee, 24:34.37; 21- Spencer Johnson, 24:38.62; 22- Dietrich Mosel, 24:40.5; 25- Brian Edsall, 24:44.8; 30- Stefan Morton, 24:52.94; 39- Patrick Rynkowski, 25:03.09; 46- Riley Hughes, 25:09.82; 50- Saad Baig, 25:15.3; 60- Matt Baffuto, 25:26.3; 65- Joseph Miller, 25:31.1; 74- Jake Hensler, 25:47.1; 77- Palmer Weimann   25:48.7; 82- Steven Rizzo, 25:54.0; 87- Patrick Hickey, 26:03.3; 88- Will Duggan, 26:05.2; 97- Steven Morrison, 26:11.2; 101- Michael Kennedy, 26:17.4; 106- Omar Perez, 26:26.1; 107-     Dan Hillman, 26:27.6; 112-  Eamonn Beers, 26:39.1; 116- Mark Vuono, 26:42.7; 126 - Patrick Ginty, 26:58.7; 127- Brian Henderson, 27:01.1; 130- Domenic Fortino, 27:04.0; 134- Richard Willi, 27:07.3; 143- Charles Ropes, 27:37.7; 149- Eddie White, 27:57.8; 152- Andrew Burns,     28:07.2; 157- Sami Ellougiani, 28:39.8

Team Results

1. Iona - 15, 2. Marist - 93, 3. Canisius - 112, 4. Monmouth - 115, 5. Siena - 140, 6. Manhattan - 157, 7. Quinnipiac - 173, 8. Fairfield - 195, 9. Rider - 208, 10. Niagara - 278, 11. Saint Peter's - 362.

MAAC All-Academic Team