Men's Cross Country/Track and Field

Your gift to the Crusader Athletics Fund will help to provide a more competitive experience for our student-athletes. Make your gift today.

You showed your dedication to our student-athletes’ journies to excellence, and it was an amazing day of giving. Crusaders across the globe came together to contribute the highest single-day total in Holy Cross Athletics Giving Day history. We look forward to sharing final results next week.

Today, you went All In for Crusader Athletics. You showed the power of the Holy Cross community and committed to the continued development of ethical leaders, champion athletes, and men and women for and with others.

Thank you for your support and dedication to this special family. We wouldn’t be who we are without you, and we are humbled by your generosity.

Our next great moment awaits.

Go Cross Go!

It’s been an incredible day of giving in support of our Crusader student-athletes! With four hours to go, we are on our way to a record-breaking day for Holy Cross Athletics.

Join us in the final hours and go All In for the programs that mean the most to you!

A group of generous alumni and parents have now come forward with a $50,000 challenge to inspire the entire Holy Cross community!

At the conclusion of Crusaders All In Giving Day, $5,000 will be awarded to the five programs with the highest percentage of alumni participation AND to the five programs with the highest total donor participation. 

Find out how your team is doing!

Also, thanks to the Hope + Access campaign, all new and increased gifts to Athletics are matched 100% for financial aid.

Go All In today in support of our student-athletes and their continued growth as leaders and champions. Our teams need you!

May 14, 2021

Today, I’m asking you, and all Crusaders, to go ALL IN.

All year, our student-athletes have dedicated themselves to looking towards the future, growing stronger as individuals and teammates athletically, academically and personally.

With fortitude, we are continuing to prepare our 700 Crusaders to compete at the highest level. Just as they are committed to training and learning, to capitalizing on the opportunities in front of them, we are committed to our vision – delivering a transformative student-athlete experience driven by competitive success. 

Year after year, regardless of the circumstances, one thing remains constant — the strength of Crusaders when we go ALL IN for one another. Every dollar you give today will be dedicated to continuing our tradition of developing champions. And today, thanks to the Hope + Access campaign, all new and increased gifts are being matched 100% for financial aid. 

Together, we are strong. Together, we shape our future. Together, let’s go ALL IN for Crusader student-athletes.

Go Cross Go! 

Marcus Blossom

Director of Athletics

2/24/21

Along with the snow and cold temperatures, excitement has returned to Mount Saint James as most of our student-athletes have returned to campus for the delayed second semester and the hockey and basketball teams are in the middle of their winter schedules. The enthusiasm is equally apparent among the coaches and members of the track and cross country squads. The team is anxious to return to competition and is making good progress in their indoor workouts.  It is obvious that they missed being together as a full team since last March and are highly motivated to literally make up for lost time and distances. The co-captains did a great job keeping the team connected through weekly Zoom calls especially this past fall.

The year is going to look a lot different than your traditional collegiate seasons because we will be racing a winter Patriot League Cross Country Championship on March 5^th, one week after the Patriot League Indoor Track Championship. Seems backward, but at least we have been able to salvage both championships and will focus on a more normal outdoor track season with more competitive opportunities before the outdoor Patriot League Championships in early May. I am really encouraged by the leadership displayed by our juniors and seniors as they mentor their younger teammates through a transition to college training made more difficult by the essential COVID restrictions.

The cross country team adjusted to the absence of a competitive season by moving some of the athletes to the middle distance training group in October and the rest continued their longer distance training. Now that most of the team is back working together it is great to see the progress of the first-year athletes. The core of the team is still solidly in the hands of Karter Seitz ’22 and JT Leland ’22 who are challenged by strong sophomores, Liam Christman ’23 and Kyle VanDermark ’23. The first-year class of distance runners is led by Rory McLaughlin ’24 from Oliver Ames who is performing well in longer repeats and should remain a factor in the top five.

The track and field team will rely heavily on the jumping events and the middle distance runners. School record holder in the triple jump, Mike Pichay ’21, is joined by a great training partner in Chris Wallace ’23 and they give us a strong 1-2 punch in both the triple and long jump. Pole vaulting is in the capable hands of TJ Duggan ’22 who Coach Hoogasian feels is ready to be our next 15 footer. The high jump has emerged as another strong event with senior Dan Dempsey ’21 being joined by first-year jumper/hurdler, Mike Mazzocca ’24 to give us two over 6’6”.

The middle distance group still offers us some continued power in the form of Corey Kumamoto ’22 in the 800/1000, Will Hornyak ’22 in the 400/800, and senior Gabe Piepergerdes ’21 in the 400. Gabe is the returning IC4A Champion in the 2019 400m hurdles who is singularly focused on qualifying for the NCAA Regional Championship after missing the last outdoor season because of the COVID cancelations.

We have two returning sophomore hurdlers/sprinters, Cameron Lloyd ’23 and Sean Flaherty ’23 who join Mike Mazzocca ’24 to give us more depth in the hurdles than we have had in a few years.

In general, the team is solid across most of the events with a nice mixture of talented upper-class competitors coupled with some very promising younger athletes. The coaches and athletes are excited about having the opportunity to host some meets for the 2021 outdoor season but with the current COVID restrictions they will be held during the week as dual meet, single-gender competitions. There is also the restriction — that all teams must enforce — that spectators are not allowed. We will continue to share results with you and encourage you to stay involved through the team newsletter and the critically important Crusader Athletics Fund (CAF). CAF continues to be a tremendous resource to help us upgrade our training apparatus, cover costs of trips like Notre Dame for cross country and a southern trip in the spring, as well as any special event costs to enter our best athletes in national level competition when appropriate.

I personally would like to thank all of you for your continued support of your program and I hope the current team will make you proud to be a Crusader.

Go Holy Cross!

Jim Kavanagh

Head Coach

We are in awe of and so very grateful for our supporters who continue to go All In for our student-athletes. Your generosity allows us to prepare our Crusaders for a stronger tomorrow as they strive to succeed and lead in athletics, in the classroom and in their communities.

Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your support! Holy Cross would not be what it is today without the participation and dedication of Crusader Nation.  

Holy Cross student-athletes are dedicated and resilient. When our world — and in turn, our campus life — changed this year, we adapted. Through challenge after challenge, our commitment to our education and our athletics never faltered. And today, we remain focused and hopeful for the future.

This is why we are asking the Holy Cross community to come together right now in support of our student-athletes.

Whether you make a gift to the Fund for Athletics Excellence or to one of our 27 varsity teams, your generosity helps position us for an even stronger return to competition.

In the face of unprecedented challenges, we know that one thing remains constant — the strength of Crusaders when we go all in to support one another. On this Giving Tuesday, your gift is for our future. With your support, our next great moment awaits.

I hope this note finds you and your family in good health as you deal with this continuing pandemic. I'm sure the disruptions caused by COVID-19 have altered your lives in much the same way as it has challenged our teams at Holy Cross. We could never have imagined that after losing our outdoor track season we would be facing another hurdle in dealing with a lost cross country season as well. The decision to go to a totally online academic model coupled with restrictions on the number of athletes allowed to return to campus presented the coaches and our athletes with a delicate balance to maintain. Many of our student-athletes are training at home as best they can while they navigate the demands of totally virtual learning and relentless ZOOM meetings. As you can expect, the current teams, under the leadership of their captains, have responded with enthusiasm and energy to accomplish the goal of being prepared for any proposed competitions. Caitlyn Tzimorotas ’21, Claire Hanlon ’21 and Sophia Haywood ’21 have done an excellent job directing the efforts of the women's cross country team and JT Leland ’22, Joe Doerr ’21 and Karter Seitz ’22 have done the same for the men's team.

The cross country season is not totally lost but will look a lot different than years past.  A proposed virtual Cross Country Championship will be held with each team racing a 6k for women and an 8k for men on their home tracks to avoid traveling and allowing for social distancing. The results will be recorded and merged to crown an unofficial champion. The NCAA has decided to contest a national championship race. Patriot League coaches, in an effort to provide an opportunity for our individuals and teams to be eligible to qualify, have tentatively scheduled what we hope will be a face to face Patriot League Championship. Both teams are intensifying their training as we now can look forward to some opportunities to race.

The men's track team faces the same uncertainty as the cross country team with the canceling of all competition until the New Year. Once again, the captains have worked closely with the coaching staff to schedule small group training groups outside and in the strength and conditioning room. The school has done an outstanding job implementing testing protocols for the entire Holy Cross community and everyone seems to be adhering to the regulations resulting in a safe environment. We will continue in small working groups (8 or fewer) with masks on for another week and then hopefully move up to larger groups (12-15). The indoor season is still not settled other than a possibility of small meets in January leading to a fuller slate in February if all goes well. The plan would be to have primarily Patriot League tri meets for 3 weeks culminating in an Indoor Championship in late February. I hope you enjoy the first edition of the HC Track and XC newsletter produced through the efforts of Karter Seitz with the support of Cara Hanrahan Abraham and the Crusader Athletic Fund (CAF). This issue focuses on cross country captains and newcomers while the next one will introduce the track captains and first-year athletes. We are hoping for improved communication with the alumni, parents and friends and we hope you will get involved and send suggestions to us.

Your consistent support of our teams gives us the strength and the resources necessary to improve the level of our performances and provide a first-class Division I experience to our athletes.    

Always Proud to be a Crusader.

Coach Kavanaugh P03

Head Coach