ALBANY, N.Y. – After two years away, the University at Albany cross country team will finally compete once again at home, hosting the 54th R.K. Munsey UAlbany XC Invitational.
 
Meet Info
R.K. Munsey UAlbany XC Invitational
Albany, N.Y.
Open 5K: 1:00 pm
Women: 5K – 1:45 pm | Course Map
Men: 8K – 2:30 pm | Course Map
Results available from finishright.com
 
Women's Entries
Baker, Brown, Browne, Butterfield, Calamunci, Chambers, Coddington, Denis, Fitzmaurice, Grady, Guilfoyle, Hanson, Hartley, Hayes, Howard, Hrelja, Iocca, Joseph, Planavsky, Rutt, Zitomer
 
Men's Entries
Athanailos, Beltran, Chambers, Diaz, Garcia, Greenwood, King, Menis, Mercado, Romano, Venson
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany last competed on September 24 at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown at Franklin Park in Jamaica Plain, Mass.  Franklin Park will host the NCAA Northeast Regional XC Championships in November.  For the third-straight meet, Antonio Beltran and Tess Fitzmaurice were the top UAlbany finishers for the men and women, respectively.
 
Last Time at the Munsey Invitational
Hannah Reinhardt became the first woman to win three consecutive individual titles at the R.K. Munsey UAlbany XC Invitational.  With each victory on the home course, including two weeks later at the 2019 America East XC Championships, she lowered her winning time.  She ran 17:04.2, her season best at the time.  In the men's race, Charlie Ragone claimed the individual title for the Great Danes, and Christopher Perillo placed second.  It was the third time that UAlbany had swept the individual titles since the 2014 season.
 
Homecoming
Friday will be the first meet UAlbany track & field and cross country has hosted since the 2019 R.K. Munsey Invitational.  The team hosts their meet during the indoor season at the Ocean Breeze facility in Staten Island, N.Y., and with the cancellation of the 2020 outdoor track & field season, plus further complications affecting the hosting of the 2020 Munsey Invitational in October and the 2021 Spring Classic in May, the Great Danes will have gone a total of 729 days without competing on their home turf.
 
Back-to-Back-to-Back
In the first three meets of the season, the Great Dane men and women have been paced by Antonio Beltran and Tess Fitzmaurice, respectively.  Both Beltran and Fitzmaurice were the top UAlbany finishers in the season opener at the Siena XC Invitational, at the America East Pre-Conference Meet, the following week, and in the teams' third meet, the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown.  Fitzmaurice, a freshman, has taken over the top spot on the team from Kelly Iocca, who graduated in the spring, and from Hannah Reinhardt, whose eligibility was exhausted following the 2019 season, the last full season of competition due to COVID-19.
 
Opening Third
The UAlbany cross country teams opened the season locally in 2021 at the Siena XC Invitational.  Both the men and the women place third in the team competition, scoring 74 and 71 points, respectively.  Antonio Beltran finished first for the men, while freshman Tess Fitzmaurice paced the women.
 
Next: UAlbany returns to New Hampshire for the America East XC Championships on October 29.