The University of Rhode Island men’s cross country team traveled to Hopkinton, New Hampshire, to participate in the New England Championship on Friday and brought home a first-place finish.
In the eight-kilometer race, Rhode Island had two runners place in the top five; third-year Nick Martin placed third with a time of 24:06.33, and third-year Garrett Hartline placed fifth with a time of 24:07.62. Along with the top-five finishers, the Rams had three more runners finish in the top 22, with second-year Matthew Lucas placing 13th with a time of 24:43.19, second-year Maddox Jordan placing 17th with a time of 24:52.44 and third-year Brayton Gazerro placing 22nd with a time of 25:02.47.
These finishers led Rhode Island to win the New England Championship. No other team in the event had more than three top-22 finishers, helping the Rams build a substantial lead, beating out second-place University of Massachusetts by 46 points.
Leading the team at the event was URI Assistant Coach Brian Doyle. Doyle spoke about what it meant to the team to bring home this title.
“I think anytime you can win a championship, it means a lot,” Doyle said. “It’s really important to kind of set the tone going forward of ‘Hey, it’s a championship program.’ That’s what these guys do. I was really proud of the effort.”
For Doyle, the depth displayed by his team made all the difference.
“That’s the depth we’ve never had before, which is really fun,” Doyle said. “I think each guy can run a little more free. There’s a little bit less pressure on them. They can go and know it does not necessarily come down to the individual if we’re going to be successful as a group.”
Martin, the team’s top finisher and Rhode Island native, has been with the team since 2023. Martin said the level of depth currently within the team is something unseen in his time with the Rams.
“This is definitely the deepest team that we’ve ever seen,” Martin said. “We have a lot of young guys. I think most of our guys are freshmen or sophomores eligibility-wise. I think the future of this team is going to be in good hands, knowing that we can compete at these high-level meets against good teams.”
While Martin was the team’s top finisher, Hartline only placed 1.29 seconds behind him. These top finishers motivate each other, according to Martin.
“We train together every day,” Martin said. “We’re like best friends. We just push each other to get better every single day. This is two races in a row now that we’ve been pretty much back-to-back. It’s fun to see.”
This is the second time in the last three years that Rhode Island has won the New England Championship. Prior to its win in 2023, the team last won the event in 1952.
“The team has had so much success in the past across different events and has sort of proved that ‘Hey, we’re not just a track team, we can run cross country,’” Doyle said. “It’s a whole other sport. I think what it does is kind of brings the whole track team together.”
For the runners, Martin said this piece of school history was a complete team effort.
“This was probably our best team performance ever,” Martin said. “The depth of our younger guys, me and Garrett putting up a couple of the fastest times in school history— it’s really fun to be a part of that.”
Looking ahead, the team is preparing for the Atlantic 10 Championship. Doyle has put the focus on results.
“The goal has been to be on the podium,” Doyle said. “We’re going to stick with that.”
With the end of the season in sight, Martin said the runners are not satisfied yet.
“We’re not settling,” Martin said. “We won New Englands, but I still think we all want a lot more. A-10’s are the pinnacle of the season. The last couple years haven’t quite gone as well as we wanted them to, but this year, I think the team is in a good spot.”
The team will be back in action at the A-10 Championship, taking place in Cedarville, Ohio, on Nov. 1.
