The Colby men's cross country team had three runners place in the top 10 in winning the 2002 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship meet November 11 in Williamstown, Mass.

The Mules had a team score of 80 and had seven runners in the top 88 in a field of nearly 250. Junior Nat Brown (Wellesley, Mass.), who had injury problems at the start of the season, finished in third place at the ECAC race in 26:43.6 over eight kilometers. Junior Eric Reinauer (North Granby, Conn.) took eighth place and senior co-captain Justin Sukiennik (Pittsfield, Mass.) was ninth.

The following week, Brown qualified for the NCAA Division III meet for the third time by placing 15th at the New England Division III Championships. The Colby men placed 12th out of 35 teams at that meet.

Brown, who was named Colby Most Valuable Runner for the 2002 season, ended up 119th at the NCAA meet in Northfield, Minnesota. Brown, who will spend the spring semester studying in London, England, will be a tri-captain on Colby's 2003 team.

The men also finished third in the State of Maine Meet, fifth at the Westfield State Invitational and were ninth at the NESCAC Championships.

Sukiennik was named as a NESCAC All-Academic selection and was the team's Most Improved Runner. He is a double major in chemistry and mathematics and has a 3.8 grade-point average. Sukiennik was an All-ECAC selection after finishing in ninth place at the championships.

Senior Brian Hurley (Lake Oswego, Ore.) was named as the team's Rookie of the Year after coming out for the team for the first time. He was Colby's No. 3 runner at the New England Championships and was No. 4 and took 22nd place at the ECAC meet.

Reinauer and John Tyson (Amherst, Mass.) will join Brown as tri-captains of the 2003 team. Reinauer earned All-ECAC honors for taking eighth place as Colby won the meet. An economics major, Reinauer will also study in London this spring semester. Meanwhile, Tyson was a co-captain of the 2002 season and he will be studying this spring in Spain.

The brilliant red and gold hues that mark a Maine autumn heighten the excitement of the Colby cross-country season. Consistently in the hunt, the Colby harriers have captured New England Small College Athletic Conference titles in 1981, 1987, 1990, and a first-place tie in 1993. Our annual run over the carriage trails at Acadia National Park and the miles of running trails on and adjacent to campus provide stimulating training runs on a daily basis.

High performance in the classroom has long been a mark of Colby's harriers, whose success as graduates speaks of their disciplined lives. The camaraderie of small athletic teams take on a special meaning as Colby harriers support each other on Mayflower Hill and remain in touch long after graduation.

Blessed with a 714-acre ridge-top campus that overlooks the Kennebec River Valley in central Maine, the Colby harriers are forever grateful to Judge and Mrs. Levin Campbell and their daughter Eleanor S. Campbell '81 of Cambridge, Mass., for their gift of the Campbell Trails, a race course trail system that winds through this spectacular pastoral setting.

About Campbell Trails