POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Three members of the Marist men's and women's cross country and track & field programs – senior Michelle Gaye, senior Mark Valentino and junior Mark Vuono – have been named CoSIDA/Capital One First Team Academic All-District.
On Thursday, Gaye will become the first female runner in program history to compete in NCAA Regionals, as she will run the 10K in Jacksonville, Florida. In track & field, she holds four individual school records: the 3K and 5K indoors, as well as the 5K and 10K outdoors. In cross country, Gaye became the first runner in program history to win an individual ECAC championship in 2014, and was a three-time ECAC All-East selection. She was also named ECAC All-East in 2014 in both indoor and outdoor track & field. Gaye was named Marist Sportsperson of the Year earlier this month at the athletic department's Senior Awards Banquet.
Valentino is the program's top all-time individual finisher at Penn Relays, as he recorded a fifth-place performance in the Olympic Development 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2014. He also was a USA Track & Field Junior National Championships qualifier in the steeplechase in 2012. Valentino was a four-year varsity cross country runner who was named a co-winner of the Pizzani Award at this year's Senior Awards Banquet. He was named to the MAAC All-Academic Team the past three years.
This spring, Vuono was a key member of the 4 X 800-meter relay team, which scored and ran a season-best time at the MAAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He was a member of the scoring distance medley relay team at the MAAC Indoor Track & Field Championships each of the last three years. Vuono also completed in the 2013 IC4A Championships as part of the 3,200-meter relay team. He has been named to the MAAC All-Academic Team each of the last two years.
Marist concluded the 2014-15 school year with eight CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District selections, as Gaye, Valentino and Vuono joined Connor Preece (men's soccer), Mackenzie Stephens (volleyball), Madeline Blais (women's basketball), Lexi Brannigan (women's lacrosse) and Joseph Dube (men's tennis).
