STONY BROOK, N.Y. - The Stony Brook University men's cross country team started the 2023 season on a high note, finishing first in the Stony Brook Season Opener on Saturday morning. As a unit, Stony Brook collected 27 points and took first in the 6.2K race with four individual runners finishing inside the top-six.

Shane Henderson was Stony Brook's top performer, winning the 6.2K event with a time of 18:42.8, nearly seven seconds faster than second place. Evan Brennan (18:50.2) finished third, one second behind the second-place finisher; Carlos Santos Jr. followed behind Brennan, taking fourth while freshman Collin Gilstrap raced to a sixth-place finish in his first collegiate event.

Two more Seawolves registered top-20 finishes, with Michael Hawkes taking 16th and Steven Struk placing 20th. Four more runners (Michael Fama, Nick Tardugno, Eric Shu and Henry Gartner) placed inside the top-30.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Henderson started his senior year with a first-place finish. He posted an average mile of 4:51.7 to lead the pack.
• Brennan grabbed third place, posting an average mile time of 4:53.6. Brennan joined Henderson and LIU's Elyas Ayyoub as one of three runners in the field to finish in less than 19 minutes.
• Santos (4th) and Gilstrap (6th) rounded out Stony Brook's top-10 performers.

QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Good opener for both teams, the goal today was just to get some of the rust off and get the season underway," head coach Andy Ronan noted.

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