STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Fiona McLoughlin first commanded Stony Brook cross country coach Andy Ronan's attention while she competed for Commack High School at Sunken Meadow State Park as a junior.

More than two years later, after enrolling this past fall at Stony Brook University as a freshman ecosystems and human impact major, McLoughlin finally had the opportunity to run for the Seawolves last Friday.

Her first collegiate race happened to be the America East Championships.

And McLoughlin finished fifth overall — best among the conference's freshmen and first among Stony Brook runners.

Her 5K time of 18:02.13 on the frigid, blustery day at Seaview Golf Course in Galloway, N.J., earned McLoughlin the America East's Most Outstanding Rookie honor as well as first-team all-conference recognition.

"I went into that race wanting to get my feet wet in college racing and with the level of competition out there," said McLoughlin, a 5-foot-7 Dix Hills native. "I was just maybe hoping to get in the top 15, top 10. To finish first among freshmen and in the top five is remarkable. I couldn't ask for a better race."

McLoughlin typically doesn't compare times, since each course is different, and Sunken Meadow — her high school home base — is a particularly slow course. But her 5K time in the America East Championships was a personal best.

Ronan was impressed that McLoughlin showed no fear running in a lead group with the conference's elite competitors, including UMass Lowell graduate student Kaley Richards, the eventual second-place finisher, who is currently at the NCAA Championships.

"She is a very experienced athlete, but there was no intimidation factor from Fiona, which was great," Ronan said. "Freshman. First race in college. Stood on the line with very little fear. And she was running with a group of girls up front with a lot of experience."

McLoughlin suggested her lack of intimidation was partly poise, partly ignorance. After all, it was her first college race.

"I was pretty ignorant in terms of the girls. I've never raced against them, so I had no idea who was who," McLoughlin said. "I knew there were a couple of UMass Lowell runners and a couple of Binghamton runners who dropped a few really fast 5K times a couple of weeks before the race. I just told myself, 'Don't overthink it. This is your first race in college.'"

Stony Brook's women finished fourth overall in the America East meet.

Ronan and McLoughlin were particularly proud that the seven Seawolves all were homegrown in Suffolk County — with Sachem East's Rachel Ruggiero, Jillian Manfredi and Lindsey Dodenhoff, along with West Babylon's Tara Hauff, Shoreham-Wading River's Nicole Garcia and Hauppauge's Rebecca Clackett, joining Commack's McLoughlin.

"It's nice that all of a sudden you go from competitors to teammates," said McLoughlin, a two-time all-state selection and four-time all-league honoree at Commack High School.

McLoughlin's interests include conservation and marine biology.

Stony Brook, which had its fall season canceled due to the pandemic, had a couple of tune-up races in recent weeks also called off due to snow accumulation and freezing temperatures. So McLoughlin's conference title race also marked her first-ever college meet.

"Typically during a season we would have five to six leadup races, which would sharpen them physically, but also mentally get them tuned in to what would happen in a hard race," Ronan said. "On both our women's and men's teams, you could tell some kids were missing the opportunity they normally would have had to be prepared."

McLoughlin, though, overcame the absence of tune-ups for a memorable collegiate debut.

"It was, honestly, a dream come true," she said.