Northeastern’s Korczynski Highlights CAA Men’s Cross Country Year-End Honors

By Press release submission

Dec 3, 2021

Colonial Athletic Association issued the following announcement on Dec. 2

The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) has announced its men’s cross country year-end honors, in which Alexander Korczynski of Northeastern was selected as the CAA Men’s Runner of the Year. Hofstra’s Zach Van Houten earned CAA Men’s Rookie of the Year accolades, while Forest Braden of William & Mary collected CAA Men’s Coach of the Year honors. The three major awards announced Thursday are decided by a vote of the league's head coaches.

Korczynski becomes the first Northeastern student-athlete to earn CAA Runner of the Year accolades since 2013. He won the CAA individual crown, finishing first at the CAA Cross Country Championship (25:01.2). Additionally, Korczynski achieved USTFCCCA All-Region honors by placing 17th (30:52.5) at the NCAA Northeast Regional. The senior ran a season-best 24:05.2 at the FSU NCAA Pre-National Invitational. Korczynski is the third Huskie in program history to claim CAA Runner of the Year honors.

Van Houten is the third Hofstra runner to collect CAA Rookie of the Year honors in the last four seasons. He was the top finishing freshman at the CAA Championships, earning All-CAA honors after a fifth-place performance (25:08.6). The freshman finished 38th at the NCAA Northeast Regional in his first career 10K, running 31:32.4. He ran to a fourth-place finish at the Paul Short Run, posting a time of 24:49.8 in the 8K event. Additionally, Van Houten earned an individual victory in his collegiate debut, winning the Hofstra XC Invite (14:38.8). Hofstra has won at least one CAA year-end award in each of the past four seasons.

Braden earns CAA Coach of the Year accolades for the fourth time during his tenure at the helm of the Tribe. He has won the award four times over the past five seasons. Under his direction, the William & Mary men won their league-leading 28th CAA team title at the 2021 CAA Championships. The Tribe placed six runners in the top 10 at the conference championship meet, including the second and third-place finishers. No program has won more Men’s CAA Coach of the Year honors than William & Mary as Braden marks the 30th time the Tribe has claimed the award.

The top 12 finishers from the 2021 CAA Championship meet earned All-CAA honors. Those finishers are listed below in alphabetical order.

2021 CAA Men’s Cross Country All-CAA Honorees

Patrick Cullen, Northeastern

Benjamin Godish, Northeastern

Jacob Jones, William & Mary

Alexander Korczynski, Northeastern

Andrew Lagattuta, William & Mary

Tyler Lipps, William & Mary

Patrick North, William & Mary

Sam Pritchard, William & Mary

Matthew Schaefer, Northeastern

Aidan Tierney, Elon