Fasulo captures Big East XC crown

Sam Carella

The men and women’s cross country teams competed in the Big East Championships at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx Oct. 31. The men placed third and the women placed fourth in the championship races.

Wildcat senior Jon Fasulo led the way for ‘Nova with a first place performance which left the men behind only Georgetown and Notre Dame in the point scoring. Fasulo’s victory was the first Big East cross country title for the men in a decade. Pulling away from Georgetown’s Rob Koborski 200 meters from the finish line, Fasulo captured the first Big East title of his career.

“Fasulo is having a terrific cross country season,” head coach Marcus O’Sullivan said. “This race is the result [of] the hard work Jon has put in.”

Fasulo’s victory came 20 years to the day after O’Sullivan’s own first place performance at the Big East cross country championship.

Milos Mitric and Bobby Curtis were next across the line for the Wildcats in 13th and 14th place, respectively. Curtis’ 14th place finish made him the highest placing freshman in the championship. Rounding out the Wildcats’ scoring was senior Ryan Hayden in 17th place and freshman Kippy Keino in 22nd place.

“Milos really stepped it up this year, improving upon his 42nd place finish from last year,” O’Sullivan said. “We have a young team and the freshmen all had good performances, particularly Bobby Curtis.”

Georgetown captured the men’s team title with five runners in the top 10 places with 29 points. Notre Dame edged the Wildcats by one point for second place.

Sophomore Marina Muncan led the women with a 10th place finish in 21:16 minutes. Muncan finished just ahead of junior Ioana Parusheva, who was two seconds behind the sophomore. Juliette Kenny and Colleen Taylor crossed the finish line next for ‘Nova, placing 19th and 24th, respectively. Rounding out the scoring for the women were Kirsty Smith in 27th place (22:06 minutes) and Rebecca Mitchel in 33rd place (22:21 minutes). Also contributing were Carre Joyce, who placed 51st, and Bridget Akard, who placed 65th.

Notre Dame captured the women’s Big East Cross Country team title with 59 points, while Providence scored 80 points to take second over Georgetown. Villanova scored 91 points for 4th place. “As a team we ran as well as I had expected,” head coach Gina Procaccio said. “Juliette and Colleen ran very well, they really managed to step it up.”

Both the men and the women are looking forward to NCAA Regionals next weekend. Their performances at the Regionals will determine if they will be traveling to Northern Iowa on Nov. 24 for the NCAA championships.