2025 Northeast Conference Men's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll                   1. CCSU (unanimous)                 2. Wagner                 3. Stonehill                 4. (tie) LIU                     Saint Francis U                 6. Le Moyne                 7. New Haven                 8. FDU                 9. Mercyhurst                 10. Chicago State                First place votes in parentheses

Bridgewater, NJ –- It appears the road to the NEC men’s cross country title will still run through New Britain.

Central Connecticut, the most dominant program in league history with a record 12 NEC titles since 2009, has been unanimously picked to three-peat in a preseason vote of the conference’s head coaches.

Wagner placed second in the poll, the same place they finished last season, while Stonehill was picked third.

LIU and Saint Francis U finished in a tie for fourth, while Le Moyne finished sixth.

NEC newbie New Haven was selected seventh entering its inaugural Division I campaign.

FDU, Mercyhurst and Chicago State rounded out the poll in that order.

CCSU finished a whopping 35 points ahead of the field to claim the title last fall and had seven runners place in the top 10, including the top four finishers. Led by head coach Eric Blake, a record 10-time NEC Coach of the Year, including each of the last two years, the Blue Devils return key contributors Mark Rodriguez (Cromwell, CT/Cromwell), Aidan Budge (Newtown, CT/Newtown), Chris Abbey (East Lyme, CT/East Lyme) and Michael Kraszewski (East Haddam, CT/Hale Ray), all of whom off were All-Conference selections in 2024. Kraszewski was named NEC Rookie of the Year -  CCSU’s fifth such honoree in the last decade - a season ago and finished 10th at the NEC Championship with a time of 26:36.30. Seniors Rodriguez (25:59.30) and Budge (26:10.00) took fourth and sixth, respectively, while Abbey (26:27.40), a graduate student, claimed ninth place. Budge now has two top-six finishes at the NEC Championships, after placing fourth in 2023.

Wagner, which has won the NEC crown three times since 2019, returns four of its All-Conference selections last season in Justin Morris (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's Boys), Maxime Ricci (Bordeaux, France/Lycée des Graves), Johnny Sokoll (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's Boys) and Keegan Baluja (Staten Island, NY/CSI High School). All four finished inside the top-15 at the conference meet a season ago. Their highest finisher was Morris, who crossed the line seventh with a time of 26:12.70. That result was a massive improvement for Morris, who finished 31st the year prior. The team is now under first-year head coach Marvin Azor, who served as an assistant the past two years.

Stonehill, guided by veteran head coach Karen Boen, saw Dylan Brilliant (Plymouth, MA/Plymouth South) finish fifth individually last fall to earn an All-Conference nod. Brilliant clocked a 26:00.20 at last year’s NEC Championships to place in the top-10 for the second consecutive season.

Saint Francis U will host the 2025 edition of the NEC Men’s Cross Country Championships on November 1 at B & D Acres Farm in Tyrone, PA. All ten NEC institutions are eligible to participate in the championship.

About The Northeast Conference
Now entering its 45th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of ten institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#9). Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#88). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, New Haven, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.