MANCHESTER, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's cross country team opened the 2024 season with a third-place finish at the Trinity Invitational on Saturday morning at Wickham Park.

Despite running a small squad, the Camels placed four runners in the top 25 and finished with 88 points. UMass Dartmouth took home the team title with 55 points while Roger Williams finished as runner-up with 57 points.

Competing in his first cross country race since the 2022 NCAA Championship, Matt Scardigno (Port Washington, N.Y.) turned in a runner-up finish with a time of 15:54.00. He led the race at the first mile marker but was eventually passed by RWU's Nathan Tassey, who broke the tape in 15:33.9.

The spread between Conn's top-5 runners was 1:27, and several new faces represented the Camels well. First year Josh Barzilai (Princeton, N.J.) finished 16th in his first collegiate race with a time of 17:10.2, and classmate Alex Santos Acosta (West Hempstead, N.Y.) took 30th in 17:21.8. Sandwiched in between the two newcomers were Anthony Belford (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Deem Quinn (Cranston, R.I.), who finished 19th (17:11.7) and 21st (17:12.7), respectively.

Sam Walker (Newburyport, Mass.) and Kevin Lieue (Bellevue, Wash.) rounded out Conn's top-7. Walker crossed the finish in 45th (17:34.4) while Lieue placed 50th (17:37.4).

Conn will next compete at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, September 21 at 10:30 a.m.