Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook men’s and women’s cross country teams opened the 2015 season at the Stony Brook Season Opener, with the Seawolves men’s team finishing first in the 6K and the women’s squad placing second among the six competing teams in the 4K.

Coach Ronan’s Take
​“Today was about evaluating where we are after the summer. “Overall, I am satisfied with what I saw out there. Christina [Melian] showed she is in very good shape, Liz Caldwell and Megan Cooney also had good runs. On the men's side I thought we went to sleep in the middle of the race and then ​some of them got it going again over the last 1000m. We need to improve on that over the next eight weeks. The season is underway, now we need to work hard each day and stay focused on competing hard every time we line up.”

Highlights
- The Stony Brook men’s team was first with 50 points, edging UMass Lowell (54). Sacred Heart (65) placed third, Quinnipiac (85) was fourth, Hartford (118) took fifth and Central Connecticut (147) was sixth.
- The Seawolves women finished second with 52 points, as Sacred Heart took the women’s team victory with 45. UMass Lowell (53) was third, Quinnipiac (92) placed fourth, Hartford was fifth (112) and Central Connecticut (169) rounded out the scoring.
- The top two finishers on the women’s side were from Stony Brook. Junior Christina Melian (Staten Island, N.Y.) and junior Elizabeth Caldwell (Glen Head, N.Y.) recorded times of 14:18.40 and 14:50.63, respectively.
- Senior Mitchell Kun (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the first Stony Brook men’s runner across the finish line, placing second in 18:44.87.
- The Seawolves had three of the top 10 finishers on the men’s side. Sophomore Joseph Acito (North Salem, N.Y.) was ninth in 19:08.12, while sophomore Daniel Connelly (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) was 10th (19:10.69).
- Freshman Kevin Vinolas (Middletown, N.Y.) finished 17th (19:20.91), senior Ryan Tancin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) was 18th (19:21.30) and freshman Ben McDermott (Pearl River, N.Y.) came in 19th (19:23.73).
- On the women’s side, junior Christine Eisenberg (Hauppauge, N.Y.) placed seventh (15:19.66), while junior Megan Cooney was also in under 16 minutes with a 17th-place finish in 15:40.92.

Notes
- This is the second consecutive year Melian has finished first in the women’s race. Her 2015 time eclipsed last year’s by more than 13 seconds.
- Saturday was the first of three home meets for the Seawolves in 2015. Stony Brook will be home Sept. 12 for the Wolfie Invitational and Oct. 31 for the America East Championships.

Up Next
The Seawolves are home for the second consecutive weekend to open 2015 as they host the Wolfie Invitational. The meet will begin at 10:30 a.m.