Oct. 25, 2006

Staten Island, NY - With the NEC Cross Country Championships kicking off this Friday head coach Joe Stasi and his staff have been preparing the teams for the big event as the Green & White will look to improve upon sixth place finishes a year ago for both the men and the women.

Leading the charge for the men will be senior Kyle Sultzer (Archbald, PA/Valley View). Sultzer has competed in every race for the Seahawks this season and is coming off a third place finish at the CCSU Mini-Meet last weekend. Sultzer has held the top time in every race but one this year for the Green & White and is a person the team will count on for points. Joining him will be junior Mouhamed Halwani, (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian) who was tabbed all-conference after last year's championship. After a slow start to the year, Halwani has come on as of late and might be peaking at exactly the right time.

Joining that duo will be a couple of underclassmen in sophomore Allen Koehler (Okeana, OH/William Henry Harrison) and freshman James Johnston (Middle Island, NY/Longwood). Koehler has been durable this season running in every race the Seahawks have competed in, and has seen his times improve over the last couple of races. Johnston who came out of the gates on fire to start his freshman season has been hampered by injuries as the season has progressed. He took NEC rookie of the week honors after his first run at the Monmouth Kick-Off and will hope to revert to that form this Friday.

Anchoring the women will be sophomore Brecken Drager (Loomis, CA/Del Oro). Drager who has won NEC athlete of the week on one occasion this year missed consecutive runs before returning to the CCSU Mini-meet where she was the only Seahawk to post a sub 12 minute time. Senior Maris Reutzel (Meadville, PA/Meadville) returns to the championship stage one last time and brings consistency to the event having run every race for Wagner this year. Along with those two is junior Meaghan Robbins (Waymart, PA/Western Wayne) another runner that has been in every race this season, recording the top Wagner time in two of those.

A couple of freshmen have also been instrumental to the Wagner attack this season and they hope to accumulate some points this Friday. Current NEC rookie of the week Jen Wejsa (Wantage, NJ/High Point) and Jenna Nagliera (Stony Point, NY/North Rockland) have participated in most every race for the Green & White.

The run takes place this Friday at Van Cortland Park in Bronx, NY. The women's 5k run starts first at 12:45, while the men's 8k will follow at 1:30.