Men’s Cross Country to Race at UMass Dartmouth Invitational Saturday

BOSTON – Suffolk men's cross country returns to action this Saturday, Sept. 20 at the 52nd UMass Dartmouth Invitational. The Rams will race in the Robert 'Buddy' Harris 8k at 11:20 a.m. on the Corsairs' Robert Dowd Course. Action can be followed live here.

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LAST TIME OUT
Suffolk men's cross country opened its 2025 season Saturday, Aug. 30 with a 10th-place performance at the Suffolk Short Course Classic at the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park. 

MORE READING: Men's Cross Country Takes 10th at Short Course Classic

INVITATIONAL INFORMATION

• The UMass Dartmouth Invitational, an annual event in its 52nd year, is competed on the Corsairs' Robert Dowd Course and is the biggest early season race in New England.
• As of 2002, the men's varsity race is named in honor of Robert 'Buddy' Harris, a UMass Dartmouth student-athlete, who helped lead his team to three consecutive appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

THE HEATS

• Four different heats will race mid-morning to early afternoon on the Robert Dowd Course.
• Competition commences with the sub varsity men's 8k run at 10:30 a.m., with the Robert 'Buddy' Harris, men's varsity 8k, gun firing 50 minutes later.
• The women are scheduled for the varsity 6k race at noon with the women's junior varsity gold event following 40 minutes later to conclude the competition.

THE COURSE

• The men's 8000-meter race is gently rolling on grass and unpaved trail with the exception of a quarter of a mile of pavement. A full course map can be found here.

THE FIELD

• Runners from every NCAA Division are headed to Dartmouth, Massachusetts this Saturday. Close to 40 squads will be represented in the field including three of the Rams Conference of New England (CNE) counterparts in Hartford, Nichols and Roger Williams.
• The varsity race is limited to eight runners per school and could see over 300 student-athletes compete.

COACH'S QUOTE
"We're excited to see our freshmen race their first collegiate 8k," head coach Will Feldman said. "It's going to be a very competitive field with numerous NCAA Division I and Division II teams. We will be looking for a mid-pack finish." 

RAMS REMINISICE: UMASS DARTMOUTH INVITATIONAL

• Suffolk is set to race at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational for the sixth time, first since 2022.
• The course reverts back to an 8k course for the first time since 2018.
• The Rams best-ever showing at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational in an 8k race was a 17th-place performance in 2018.
• Suffolk's highest finish at the annual meet came in 2021 when it took sixth. That meet was a 5-mile run.
• Individually, Matyas Csiki-Fejer owns the best 8k time at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational with a 25:39.76 showing in 2018. That effort put him 18th, the best performance place wise by a Ram when the meet is an 8k.
• Sean Jacobsen (26:12.7) and Michael Najarian (36:04.6) are the only active Suffolk student-athlete to compete at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. Both competed in the 5-mile in 2022.

SUFFOLK'S SCHEDULE
Suffolk will be away from competition until Friday, Oct. 3 when it jet sets to Colfax, Wisconsin for the Blugold Invite.