Senior Ben Fleischer took tenth place in the 8 kilometer run in Attleboro, Mass. with a time of 25 minutes and six seconds. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
The University of Rhode Island Men’s Cross Country Team opened their season with a fourth-place finish at the Friar Invitational in Attleboro, Mass., and assistant coach Brian Doyle believes this is only the beginning for this young Rhody team.
“That was definitely our best start to the season, as far as I know, in probably recent modern URI history,” Doyle said.
URI was able to score a total of 104 points in the 8k (5 mile) run, placing behind Xavier University, Providence College and Stony Brook University.
In terms of looking ahead toward the rest of the season, Doyle believes that there is always room for improvement.
“We want to continue getting better, like any other sport,” Doyle said. “These guys know they can be the best team in the past 70 years here at URI, they know it can be done, but they got a lot of work to do to get there.”.
Leading the way for the Rams was senior Ben Fleischer, who finished in 10th place with an 8k time of 25:06.3.
According to Doyle, Fleischer has proven his potential throughout the pre-season, and he predicts future success for Fleischer as the season goes on.
“He’s really consistent, he’s shown that he can run with anyone,” Doyle said. Some of the guys up there were sub-4-milers and all-Americans, he’s shown he has the ability and toughness to do it.”
Fleischer, the Scotch Plains, New Jersey native has been a model of consistency since high school where he was named First Team All County for track and cross country seven times, and was a two-time team MVP.
Fleischer was happy to be out there competing with his teammates after all the work he put in over the off-season.
“Being able to see everybody, meet all the freshmen, and show what you’ve been working on for the last couple of months is always a good feeling,” Fleischer said. “Especially when you’re able to put out a good performance.”
As for Fleischer’s outlook on the rest of the season, he has his expectations set high.
He and the team are carrying a championship mindset with them throughout the remainder of the season.
“The focus for us is always on the championship,” Fleischer said.
Both Fleischer and Doyle believe that this could be the beginning of a historical run for the Rams and said that big goals can be achieved if they put in the right kind of work.
With their sights set on upcoming championship competitions, the excitement and expectations amongst the Men’s Cross Country team is on the rise.
“We have some pretty big goals heading into New Englands in a couple of weeks,” Fleischer said. “We want to be in the top half in the A-10, getting close to that top five, and trying to be a top fifteen team in the region would be really big for us and pretty much one of the best performances we’ve ever had as a school”.
Men’s Cross country will race next at the Battle at Beantown in Boston this Saturday against schools including Boston College and Boston University, looking to build on their momentum.