BOSTON – The Suffolk men's cross country team lifted the lid on its 2021 campaign with a third-place finish at the Rams' Short Course Classic Friday afternoon at Franklin Park. 

The meet featured opponents from every NCAA Division with Brown topping the 10-team field. The Bears' 19 team points was nearly untouchable as Harvard slid into second with 61 team points and Suffolk took third just nine points the Crimson. 

Matyas Csiki-Fejer nearly won the 5K foot race. The senior from Manchester, Missouri, was on the heels of Brown's Evan Sherman through the finisher's chute, but finished nine second behind him in 15:41 to take second in the 102-runner field.  

Tim Barry put together a top-10 performance in his collegiate debut. The freshman clocked a 16:27 to take 10th, while his classmate Thomas Novy claimed 16th with a time of 16:59. 

Senior Nic Malm crossed the tape nine seconds after Novy to secure 20th with Connor Hayward (17:17), Cole Bolduc (17:41) and Jacob Dubin (17:42) rounding out the Rams top seven. 

Overall, there were 17 blue-and-gold student-athletes on the course in the team's first competition since 2019.  

Suffolk will take a week's rest before competing at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational Saturday, Sept. 18.