The 2016 Berkeley College cross country season will be a historic one for the institution, as it will mark the first campaign since the consolidation of the New Jersey and New York men's and women's squads. Adam Rosen – who has served as the Head Coach for the New York teams for the past two seasons – will be the Head Coach of the merging programs, while Michael Lincoln – who served as Head Coach of the former New Jersey cross country squads – will serve as Rosen's Associate. Together – both Rosen and Lincoln believe sky could be the limit for their student-athletes.
"One of the key elements to a successful season is our ability to create a strong sense of "team", and the merging of the New York and New Jersey programs certainly enhances this," Rosen said. "I believe that these runners will competitively feed off of each other and enjoy getting to know one another better." Michael Lincoln – a staple the program for many years – added: "This is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to build bridges and create new bonds. These runners seem very excited about this new concept."
Berkeley College's women's squad will feature a healthy combination of returning runners as well as zealous newcomers, while the men's team will feature primarily rookies.
The 2016 season will feature five meets during the regular season before the teams will compete at the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships and prospectively the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Championships. The teams will begin their seasons at the Roadrunner Invitational on Friday, September 2, at 4:00pm. 15 days later – the teams will participate in the Bard College Invitational on September 17 (women's race begins at 11am, with the men to follow at noon).
October will feature the Knights' final three regular season races, with an October 1 trip to Newburgh, NY for the Mount Saint Mary's College Invitational (women at 11:00am, men at 11:45am), an appearance in the NJIT Highlander Challenge (both genders begin competing at 11:00am), and a trip to Caldwell University for the Cougar Chase (times are to-be-announced). Berkeley will then compete for HVIAC championships on Sunday, October 30, and will potentially at the USCAA National Championships in Virginia Beach on Friday, November 11. Rosen and Lincoln gave their thoughts on the 2016 schedule.
"I expect that the Ramapo Invitational will be one of our tougher races, especially because the course terrain can be difficult to navigate", Rosen said. "Also, the first race jitters and the anticipated higher temperature for this early September race present additional challenges to our runners. These challenges will certainly be good litmus tests and will test our resolve as pursue the ultimate goal of winning a championship." Lincoln added, "The Ramapo Invitational at Garret Mountain is always tough. The competition consists of NCAA Division III runners, and Ramapo is consistently one of the top teams in New Jersey. Since the New Jersey student-athletes have never had seven races, I'm going to say that the length of the season will be our challenge."
The 2016 Berkeley College men's and women's cross country schedules can be accessed by clicking the links below:
