MIAMI, Fla. (September 11, 2020) – The 2020 men’s cross country season began on Saturday, September 5 with five teams competing in the Fire Short Course Invitational.
Below are this year’s Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country Runners to Watch.
Ave Maria
Adam Paga
Freshman – Boyne City, Michigan
6-0
Paga enters his first season with Gyrenes in 2020. In his first outing with Ave Maria, Paga led the team with a fifth-place finish at the Fire Short Course Invitational on Saturday, September 5. He recorded a personal-record starting time of 17:59.06. Paga was one of five runners to finish the 5k course in less than 18 minutes.
Keiser
Isaiah Boyd
Senior – Southfield, Michigan
6-0
The 2019 Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country Champion of Character is entering his fourth year with the Seahawks. During the 2019 season, he competed in all five events for Keiser, clocking a season-best time of 33:47.20 at the Sun Conference Championship. He recorded a PR of 37:44.43 in the TSC Championship during his sophomore season in 2018.
Southeastern
John Perez-Dunn
Sophomore – Port Charlotte, Florida
6-0
Perez-Dunn picked up the season’s first Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week (Sept. 7) with a first-place finish in a field of 47 runners to open up the season at the Fire Short Course Invitational. He completed the men's 5K race with a time of 17:28. A Second-Team All-Sun Conference selection in 2019, Perez-Dunn placed 11th at last year’s TSC Championship with a time of 27:06.
St. Thomas
Jonathan Memnon
Sophomore – Coconut Creek, Florida
5-10
Memnon is entering his second season with the Bobcats. The native of Coconut Creek, Florida, competed in four events for St. Thomas during his freshman year. He recorded a PR (8K) with a time of 27:31.7 at last year’s Sun Conference Championship where he placed 18th. He also notched a PR (5K) with a mark of 17:09.9 at the 2019 USF Invitational.
USCB
Tewodros Eckstein
Junior – Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
5-8
Eckstein opened the 2020 season with a third-place finish at the Fire Short Course Invitational on Saturday, September 5. The junior clocked a 17:36.88 and was five seconds away from second place and just under eight seconds from the first-place finisher. He was an All-Sun Conference honoree last season, finishing 10th in the TSC Championships with a time of 27:04.92.
Warner
Cesar Sandoval
Graduate Student –Poinciana, Florida
5-4
Sandoval enters his fourth season with the Royals. He opened the 2020 season with a team-best time of 18:41:26 at the Fire Short Course Invitational on Saturday, September 5, to place 15th. Last season, Sandoval led Warner at the Sun Conference Championships with a time of 28:20.1 (32nd place). He currently holds a PR (8K) of 27:52.10.
Webber International
Travis Holton
Junior – Callahan, Florida
5-9
Holton, a Second-Team All-Sun Conference (14th place; 28:20) at the 2018 TSC Championships as a freshman, holds a personal record of 27:38 at the 2018 Queens City Invite (the second collegiate race of his career). In 2019, Holton registered a season-best time of 28:91.1 (39th place) at 2019 TSC Championships.
The 2020 TSC Men’s Cross Country Championship will be held on Saturday, November 7, in Ave Maria, Florida.
ABOUT THE SUN CONFERENCE
Now entering its 31st year, The Sun Conference, a 501c3 organization, continues to be one of the most successful intercollegiate athletic conferences in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Under the guidance of Commissioner Dustin Wilke, the league sponsors championships in 18 NAIA sports: Baseball, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, Men’s and Women’s Golf, Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field, Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Softball, Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field and Women’s Volleyball. Corporate sponsorship of the Conference has increased ten-fold; but most importantly, every Sun Conference member institution earned the NAIA’s prestigious 5-Star Champions of Character Award in each of the last five years. Learn more @ thesunconference.com
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