Utica, NY - Senior Mitchell Marlow of the Utica College men’s cross country team has been named the UC Male Athlete of the Week for his performance in the Empire 8 Championships this past Saturday.
For the second time ever, and a second straight year, the Utica College men's cross country team won the Empire 8 Championship. There was also still room for a monumental first. The Pioneers had their first-ever men's individual conference champion in cross country in the winning effort. Marlow broke away from the leaders in the final 4,000 meters to take top honors in a time of 26:03, while the Pioneers delivered a clutch performance behind him to win the title with a total of 49 points at St. John Fisher College.
In the individual race, the usual suspects sat among the lead group as Fisher's Andrew Ford, Nazareth's Nate McNally, and 2018 champion Tyler Deuschle of Houghton were running right with Marlow at the halfway mark. Rather than the race turning into a late-breaking, tactical one, Marlow ran a firm pace that allowed him to break the will of the contenders just past the halfway mark, and thwart any notion of a late kick stealing the win.
After hitting the four kilometer mark, Marlow opened up an eighteen second lead on Deuschle over the next two kilometers, and did it with a split nearly identical to his previous two kilometers. That was enough to leave the field in the dust as Marlow became the first Pioneer men's runner to break the tape at the Empire 8 championships in a time of 26:03. He won the race by 35 seconds, and posted the biggest margin of victory since 2015. He averaged a 6:35 mile.
The UC men’s cross country team will travel to St. Lawrence University on Saturday, November 16 for the NCAA Atlantic Regional.
