BRONX, N.Y. – Hunter College won the CUNYAC men’s cross country championship for the fourth year in a row as the 2024 CUNYAC Men’s Cross Country Championship took place Sunday morning at Van Cortlandt Park.
 
For Hunter, it marks the program’s conference-record 19^th overall men’s cross country championship. Hunter finished with 38 points as it placed three runners in the top five.
 
Baruch (53) finished second, with Brooklyn (63) completing the top three.  CCNY (108), John Jay (111), York (N.Y.) (145), Medgar Evers (160) and Lehman (223) rounded out the field.
 
Hunter’s Mateo Penafiel was the men’s cross country individual champion, finishing the 8K race in a time of 28:06.8.  He finished 1:18 in front of runner-up Jose Perez of Baruch, with 2021 and 2023 champion Brian Guillermo of Hunter coming in third.
 
Melvil Badier finished fifth for Hunter with a time of 29:57.9.  Alexander Niyazov (32:16.3, 14^th) and Hengzhi Zhu (32:49.3, 17^th) rounded out the Hawks’ top five.
 
In addition to Perez, Baruch’s August Guerra placed eighth as the second Bearcat in the top 10 with a time of 31:23.5. Jackson Newcomb (31:50.1, 12^th) and Joshua Joyner (32:09.3, 13^th) were also in the top 15 for Baruch.
 
Brooklyn had four runners in the top 10 highlighted by Frank Ferrante’s fourth place finish with a time of 29:52.9.  Azizjon Sharifov (30:12.1, 6^th), Yasin Gordon (31:21.9, 7^th) and Samuel Dafner (31:30.2, 9^th) also finished in the top 10 for the Bulldogs.
 
CCNY’s Trent Santoro came in 10^th with a time of 31:42.8.

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ABOUT THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (CUNYAC)
The City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) is an NCAA Division III and NJCAA Division III conference with 14 members that reach across all five boroughs of New York City. Since officially coming into existence in 1987, the conference has been amongst the leaders in Division III with initiatives that focus on the student as much as the athlete in student-athlete. The conference sponsors 19 Four-Year College Championships, 13 Community College Championships, the Michael Steuerman Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner, the Basketball Press Luncheon, the SAAC Leadership and Coaches Rules Seminars, a CUNY-Wide Intramurals Championship Series, and the CUNYAC Golf Classic. With the help of four corporate sponsors, the conference has been ahead of the competition. CUNYAC boasts award-winning publications, award-winning events, unmatched television exposure, and one of the best websites in Division III while continuously searching for ways to improve the quality of the athletics experience.
 
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