MANCHESTER, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's cross country team opened the 2026 season with a third-place finish at the George Suitor Invitational on Saturday morning at Wickham Park.

Conn, which placed six runners inside the top 40, finished the day with 86 points. RPI took home the team title with 21 points while Trinity edged the Camels for the runner-up spot with 78 points. 

In his first outing of the season, Ellis Iurilli-Hough (Melrose, Mass.) picked up a third-place finish and posted a time of 15:37.8 on the 5K course. He made up nine positions over the final 2K and finished just four seconds behind medalist Evan Lacey from RPI.

Ronan Staab (White Plains, N.Y.) and Brendan Capodanno (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) were the next Camels across the line, finishing 20th and 21st respectively. The pair crossed just one-tenth of a second apart, with Staab gaining the edge with a time of 16:00.9.

Josh Barzilai (Princeton, N.J.) and newcomer John Disturco (New Canaan, Conn.) completed the scoring for the Camels. Barzilai finished 38th in 16:18.0 while Disturco placed 40th in 16:19.5. Carter Stevenson (Kent, Ohio) and Dax Arnold (New York, N.Y.) rounded out Conn's top-7 on the day.

Conn will next compete at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, September 19.