One Fredonia runner attained his place in the SUNYAC Men's Cross Country Hall of Fame. Another came up just short.
The newest Fredonia recipient -- and the 32rd in program history -- is junior Ethan Francis (Dunkirk/Dunkirk), who finished seventh Saturday at the 2017 SUNYAC Men's Cross Country championship race.
Francis, also seventh in 2016, needed to run in the Top 10 to earn his Hall of Fame spot. He did so in a time of 27:19.3 over the hilly 8,000-meter Norwood-Norfolk Central School course.
Just ahead of Francis in sixth place was senior teammate Merlin Joseph Jr. (Binghamton/Binghamton), who needed a Top 5 finish to punch his Hall of Fame ticket. Instead, Joseph came up 3.3 seconds short.with a time of 27:13.7, an average mile pace of 5:29.
Rounding out Fredonia's scoring were sophomore Aidan Pollard (Lindenhurst/Lindenhurst), 54th in 29:28.3; freshman Ryan Dunning (Syracuse/West Genesee), 66th in 29:51.0; and sophomore Kyle Egan (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury), 74th in 30:21.6. The displacement pair were both freshmen, Noah Watkins (Cortland/Cortland) and Matt Erman (East Meadow/East Meadow), in 88th and 94th place, respectively.
By finishing seventh, yet two spots ahead of Buffalo State, the Blue Devils earned two more points in the season-long Battle of the Lake challenge with the Bengals. Fredonia took a 7-1 lead into the SUNYAC Women's Cross Country championship race Saturday afternoon.
