2017 Cross Country Season Recap

   The men and women cross country team competed in 8 invitationals and championships this past fall. The season began on Sept.1st with the Bryn Mawr Invitational in Media Pa. The women’s team, for the first time in 4 seasons, had to compete as individuals due to the fact there were no new incoming female freshmen to complete a full team. For the majority of the fall season, Camden County College sent out only two female runners, sophomores Alyssa Fario (Overbrook High School, Pine Hill, NJ) and Kaylee Lovern (Gloucester City High School, Gloucester, NJ), who both competed and progressed well throughout the season. In the 2017 season, Alyssa Fario won the Penn State Brandywine Invitational, placed 2nd in the Region XIX Championships, and finished 18th at the NJCAA Division III National Championships. She earned 1st team All-Region XIX and 1st team All-Garden State Athletic Conference honors for the second consecutive season. Kaylee Lovern earned a 13th place finish at the Region XIX Championships and ran a personal best time for 5000 meters (24:27) finishing 97th at the NJCAA Division III National Championships.

      The men’s team consisted of three returning sophomores, Jason Hyland (Audubon High School, Audubon, NJ), Kevin Fennimore (Audubon High School, Mt. Ephraim, NJ) and Dakota Crabbe (Eastern Regional High School, Berlin, NJ). The four freshmen were David Tai (Cherry Hill East High School, Cherry Hill, NJ), John Sherfey (Williamstown High School, Williamstown, NJ), Chris Townsend (Eastern Regional High School, Voorhees, NJ) and Alex Goodkind (Cherry Hill East High School, Cherry Hill, NJ). Since three of the four freshmen had never competed on high school teams, and cross country experience was minimal overall, this made for an exciting season for the men who were competing to be in the top 5. The top four runners for seven of eight races were Jason Hyland, David Tai, Chris Townsend, and Kevin Fennimore. The battle for number one man had Jason Hyland leading the team five times, followed by Chris Townsend twice and Kevin Fennimore once. David Tai was the team’s second man four times. Alex Goodkind was the team’s fifth man four times, and John Sherfey closed out the last three races of the season in the fifth spot. 

        At the Region XIX Championships the Cougar Men’s Team earned a 6th place finish to qualify for the NJCAA Division III National Championship meet in Westfield, Massachusetts. This was only the second time that the Camden County College men’s team had qualified to run in national competition since the cross country program was reinstated after a 30 year absence. The men’s team was led by Chris Townsend, who ran a personal best time over the 8k course of 29:02 to place 56th. The team went on to finish in 18th place overall. Five of the seven men ran personal best times that day, while the other two men were mere seconds off their best performance for the 8k distance. 

After graduation and transfers to four year colleges and universities, the teams will look to the future with the new incoming male and female freshmen class of 2018 to build on and continue to move the cross country program forward.

       The coaches would like to thank and wish the best of luck in the future to:

Sophomores:  Dakota Crabbe, Alyssa Fario, Kevin Fennimore, Jason Hyland, Kaylee Lovern     

Freshman:  John Sherfey