The College of Staten Island men's and women's cross-country programs continue to receive good news.  Just days after bringing home the College's first-ever Men's Cross-Country Championship, the conference announced senior runner Andrew Pate as it's Men's Performer of the Year, while fifth-year head coach Robert Russo took home Coach of the Year honors.  Both were the first such honors ever recorded in team history.  The Dolphins also recording All-Star citations for Justin Mills, Kenneth Morella and Samuel Obisanya on the men's side, and another for sophomore standout Victoria Barry on the women's side.

For Pate, the award was a well-deserved one, coming on the heels of his 29:18 showing at the CUNYAC Championship, tops in the field of over 80 runners.  It was the senior's first ever first place finish, and his best race at Van Cortlandt Park this season.  It helped the Dolphins score a one-point victory over John Jay for the first championship in school history.

For the Dolphins, it was their finest outing since last year's second place faring at the Final.  Prior to that you would have to go back to almost 30 years to the day when the CSI men's team, led by John Down and freshman record holder and now CSI Hall of Famer Jeff Benjamin, led the Dolphins to a close 3rd place finish at Van Cortland Park.

"This whole experience has been a whirlwind," Pate said.  "It's a dream come true to have achieved all of the goals I set out for. It's nothing short of amazing."  Pate, however, was quick to give others credit for the award bestowed to him.  "I have to give so much credit to my teammates who re-invigorated me and made me strive to achieve my goals and my coaches and parents for their consistency with me and their helping me elevate my running and for supporting me so much.  I'm just happy that this dedication has paid off in so many ways over the last couple of weeks."

Perhaps no one is happier than Russo, who took the program from its infancy to supremacy in 2013.  "This is a great honor for me, very surprising and I am very overwhelmed," Russo said.  "To be recognized in this way, especially when put against the great coaches we have in this conference, whom I've come to know and admire very much, is very humbling."

The Dolphins also recorded all-stars for a series of underclassmen in Mills and Morella, both freshmen, and Obisanya, a sophomore who won the CUNYAC Rookie of the Year honor a year ago.

"This was a total team effort," commented Russo.  "None of what we achieved could have happened without a great group who performed extremely well this year.  All of our guys are so deserving.  They set goals; they stuck to them, and followed through when it mattered most."

Not to be outdone was Barry, who placed sixth at the CUNYAC Championship on the women's ledger, her finest outing of the season.  Her final performance punctuated a terrific season, where she posted CSI's top three 6k times this year.

"Victoria is a very educated and dedicated runner who really strives to achieve the best in herself," Russo said.  "She works incredibly hard and we were beyond excited to see her finish at the Championship the way she did.  She is getting better and better with each race and she is very deserving of this honor."

CSI's season would normally be over at this juncture, but the team is looking forward to its biggest meet of the year on November 16.  There, the team will travel to the NCAA Regional Championships, hosted by SUNY-Geneseo.