2024 Cross Country Season Preview
9/5/2024
The Brown men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to kick off the 2024 season this Friday afternoon by competing in the Friar XC Invitational, hosted by Providence College at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass.
The meet will mark the start of a season that will see the Bears compete in six regular season meets over the next two months, leading up to the Ivy League Heps on November 2 in Princeton, N.J.
The first two meets of the 2024 season will be local, with the Friar XC Invitational (9/6) and the UMass Dartmouth Invitational in Dartmouth, Mass. Brown will attend the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pa. on October 5, one of the largest intercollegiate cross country meets in the nation. The New England Championships will be on October 12 at Franklin Park in Boston, followed by a meet on the same course that will host Heps, the Princeton Fall Classic on October 18. The final tune-up before championship season will be the CCSU Mini Meet in New Britain, Conn. on October 25.
Both teams made strides as the season progressed last season and will look to build on the momentum headed into 2024. The women’s team improved four spots at last year’s regional meet from the year before, when the men finished five spots higher.
Women's Team Outlook
The women’s team will feature 26 runners in 2024, with 19 returners and seven newcomers rounding out the squad, led by second-year head coach John Kenworthy.
Junior Nimrit Ahuja returns after leading the team’s pack in two of her four meets last season, including the NCAA Regional meet and taking second on the team at Heps. Olivia Fraga had a strong rookie season in 2023 and returns after being a staple in Brown’s top five a season ago, including four finishes in the team’s top two and leading the squad at Heps. Junior Julia Schriefer ran in the Bears’ top seven in each of her meets last year, including a 15th place finish out of 141 at the Nassaney Invitational and a team-leading sixth place overall placement at the Rothenberg Run.
“We expect the front of our pack to move up,” Kenworthy said. “Our depth last year was an asset. We lost three girls from that top group to graduation, but the good thing is when you have depth like that, moving people into those slots is easier and they’re readily available. I think we’ll have talent in the freshmen class who will help to fill that out. The big thing is looking at advancing in the front and remaining deep. We didn’t lose enough to think that our depth won’t continue to be our biggest asset.”
Men's Team Outlook
Under the direction of second-year head coach Collin Zeffer, the men’s squad features 19 runners with 14 returners and five newcomers.
Senior Sam Colton closed the 2023 season strong by taking third on the team at Heps and fourth at regionals. Matthew Doherty finished fourth on the team at both Heps and regionals last season and will look to build off that into his sophomore season. Senior Tommy Gaffey placed in the team’s top five in five of his six meets. Junior Jason Markopoulos took third place in the Bears pack in three of the final four meets.
“We took some big steps going from 28th (in 2022) to 23rd at the regional meet and that got the guys really excited,” Zeffer said. “We came into this year with direction and goals and the guys who returned really did their work over the summer and arrived in good shape. In the last week and a half of preseason we’ve seen some good training happen. The atmosphere is good and the culture is really moving in the right direction. Any one of these guys could break through and have a good year. We’re also a lot deeper and much more compact based on what I’ve seen in the training so far. I think that is really going to help us as we head through the year.”
