Oakdale, N.Y.  Graduate student Jose Zayas (New York, N.Y./George Washington) added another win to his record by capturing the 2001 SJU Fall Cross Country Festival this afternoon at St. Johns Eastern Long Island campus. The SJU meet included teams from St. Johns, Fordham, Stony Brook, New York Tech, Nassau Community College and Dowling.

Zayas ran a tight race with Dave DeWolfe of Stony Brook. Zayas edged DeWolfe for the title by one second with a time of 25:52. St. Johns had three men finish in the top ten. Sophomore Sean Tremblay (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Arlington) took seventh place with a 26:35 mark. Sophomore Greg Mason (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peters) finished ninth in a time of 26:45.

Fordham University (41 points) captured the mens race with seven student-athletes finishing in the top 15. Stony Brook (45 points) took second, led by DeWolfe and Thompson, who finished second and third respectively. St. Johns rounded out the group with 55 points on the day.

For the women, senior Lynn Medjuck (Lindenhurst, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) led the way, taking second place in a time of 18:35. Jenny Payne of Stony Brook had a large lead over the rest of the pack and won the womens race in a time of 18:14. Medjuck ran most of the race with pack fighting for the second slot before turning it on in the last stretch to beat out Laura Hixson of Stony Brook (18:38) for second place honors. Sophomore Jennifer Lebowitz (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) had a strong showing, taking fifth place with a 19:01 mark. Lebowitz led the race after the first lap of the course, but Payne emerged from the pack soon after.

The Stony Brook women won the overall competition with 32 points, followed by Fordham with 43 points. St. Johns finished with 78 points, while Dowling recorded 111.

The days festivities kicked off with a fun run to raise funds for breast cancer research. Matt Cotter 01, last years SJU Fall Cross Country Festival winner, won the mile race.

The cross country team returns to action Friday, October 26 at the BIG EAST Championships to be held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y.

Complete results are available on the left side of this web page.