The St. Thomas Aquinas Men's & Women's Cross Country teams will begin their season on Saturday at the Fordham Fiasco/Ed Joyce Memorial.  The women's squad has been preseason ranked 7th in the East region and has been chosen to finish 3rd in the East Coast Conference.  The men's team has been voted to finish 4th in the conference.

The women are coming off a program best season in which they finished 5th in the East Regional race and 2nd in the East Coast conference.  Junior Katie O'Grady returns after finishing as a first team All-Conference honoree.  She also set the STAC 5K record in her junior year.  She is joined by All-Region and second team All-Conference runner Kristen Borriello who has a strong year of collegiate competition under her belt.  As a freshmen, Borriello set the school record in the 6K.  Two other second team All-Conference honorees, Meaghan Ventarola and Angelica Matwiejczuk return to the squad and will make strong contributions.  Senior Gabriela Sloezen will also maintain her role as a consistent scorer.  The Spartans have a deep squad in which anyone can step into scoring position on any given day.  

The men's team is led by sophomore Vincent Vazquez who was a four time ECC Rookie of the week in his first season.  Junior Jamer Linares and sophomore Christian Diaz return after strong summers and will challenge Vazquez for the top spot.  Juniors Ryan Gasser and Stephen McNiff should add support and will look to compress the gaps throughout the season.  The Spartans also add a trio of freshmen to the mix.

The STAC cross country teams will race at VanCortlandt Park on Saturday with the women starting at 9:45 AM followed by the men at 10:15.