Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Men's Cross Country team will begin its 2016 schedule this Saturday, September 10 when they compete in the Stony Brook University Wolfie Invitational on the Stony Brook campus. Race time for the men's 8K meet is 10 a.m.

The Pride, directed by third-year coach Vince Giambanco, will face two of the top programs in the Northeast Region in Columbia University, ranked fourth in the region, and the host Seawolves of Stony Brook, who are ranked 10th in the region in the 2016 preseason poll.

The Hofstra men's team returns six runners from last year's squad that recorded its best finish in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship at fourth place since joining the league in 2001. While the Pride lost graduate-student and All-CAA performer Douglas Dourado to graduation, senior captain Jack Finlayson (Orillia, ON, Canada), who ran in all five meets last year and was the number two Hofstra runner in meets twice.

Finlayson is one of three seniors on the Pride's six-man roster and is joined by classmates Riley Leder (Manalapan, NJ) and Michael Simon (Englishtown, NJ). Leder peaked in three consecutive 8K races culminating with a career-best 26:31 time in the 8K CAA Championship. Simon had a breakout season in 2015 and posted a career-best 8K time of 27:06 at the Brown Rothenberg Run last October.

Three juniors, Alan Hetherington (Oshawa, ON, Canada), Rodney Chirchir (Eldoret, Kenya) and Austin Jenkins, round out the Pride roster. Hetherington placed in the top three on the Pride team in all five races and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District first team selection as well as the CAA Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Chirchir was slowed by injuries last season while Jenkins posted a season-best 8K time of 28:25 to place 47th in the CAA Championship.