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As Marist runners shift their focus to the track and field season, the time has come to recap how the Marist women’s cross-country team performed during the 2023 season.
Here is a look at the top performers of the women’s cross-country season:
Parker O’Brien:
Parker O’Brien is a sophomore from Leonardtown, Maryland. O’Brien was the Indoor 800 Maryland Regional Champion in 2020 and the Female Athlete of the Year. During her senior year, she was the Outdoor 4×800 relay Maryland State and Regional Champion and a District Champion in the 4×800, 800 and 1600 in 2022. O’Brien carried over that same competitiveness to Marist, leading the Red Foxes in four meets this past cross-country season.
“I think going into the next few seasons, I want to carry over the confidence that I gained from this past season and the belief for myself to continue what I started this cross-country season,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien likes to focus before each meet so that she can maintain her concentration and calm herself down before her events so that she performs well.
“I like to do meditations to kind of get myself in the right mindset, along with listening to music, which always helps,” said O’Brien.
Sierra Fisher:
Sierra Fisher is a sophomore coming out of South Burlington, Vermont. Fisher is no stranger to competing at a high level. She was the Cross Country MVP from her freshman to senior year, as well as the Indoor Track MVP and the Outdoor Track MVP across her high school career.
“I had all these really great accomplishments but came into a program where everybody else had those compliments as well,” said Fisher. “So I just kept that same mentality I had in high school, worked hard and strived towards my goals. There is always more to accomplish, and that is what I intend to do with the remaining years I have left; this is only the beginning.”
Mallory Holloway:
Mallory Holloway is a new face for the Red Foxes but has proved to be as much of an asset and competitor as everyone else on the team. The freshman comes from Wilmington, Delaware, and has made an immediate impact for Marist. Halloway came in through the first four races of the season and placed in eighth, 14th, 12th, and 12th.
“I’m really excited that I was able to have such a good season as a freshman,” said Holloway. “Also, it’s cool to see because I have really fast girls ahead of me like Sierra and Parker, so it’s exciting to kind of be able to watch them do well at meets, and it really pushes me to do better for myself and the team.”
Holloway is not only a runner, but also an advocate for the Boomer Esiason Foundation (BEF). The BEF supports people with cystic fibrosis, which Halloway has. Halloway makes sure to include her support in any way she can due to its importance to her.
“My whole life, I’ve been advocating for people to assist cystic fibrosis in sports because I think it’s really beneficial to their health,” said Holloway. “To be able to work directly with a number of sides is really almost surreal to me because it’s always been on the top of my list to be able to work with Gunnar Esiason – a founder of BEF – and to be able to be on a division one team and share the message. I just hope that I can motivate people with fibrosis to try things they might not think are available to them due to their diagnosis.”
While the team had some impressive individual performances, they also had some notable group efforts throughout the season:
Marist Invitational (Sept. 2, Vassar Farms)
Women’s 5K Results:
The team came out roaring, placing first out of the seven teams. O’Brien led the Red Foxes, finishing second overall with a personal best time of 18.45.8 on the course. Fisher followed O’Brien with a personal best time of 18:57.2, good for fifth place. Freshman Mallory Holloway came in eighth overall with a time 19:09.5. Fellow freshmen Paige McCaul and Kayla Hawkins clocked in at 10th and 16th, respectively.
Together, the top five runners combined for 35 points, winning the race for Marist. This was their first team win on their home course since 2019.
Jasper Fall XC Invitational (Sept. 15, Montgomery, NY)
With only five athletes participating at the Jasper Fall XC Invitational, the Marist women’s cross-country team finished eighth in a 19-school race.
O’Brien led Marist once again, finishing in 22:04.8 and earning 20th place.
This was the first race of the season that had involved MAAC teams besides Marist. Quinnipiac led the MAAC in first place in this race, scoring 20 points. Following them came Rider, Siena, Canisius and Manhattan in third through sixth place. This means that Marist placed sixth among MAAC teams and finished eighth overall with only 225 points at this race.
Metropolitan Championships (October 7, Newark, NJ)
Women’s 5K Results:
Holloway garnered First Team All-Meet recognition for finishing with a time of 18:30.58, a personal best that was good enough for 12th place. Overall, the team placed sixth overall; Hawkins also had a strong performance, coming in 18th and running a personal best time of 18:45.01.
Vermont Fall Foliage Festival (October 15, St. Albans, VT)
Women’s 5K Results:
Marist has a strong showing, only finishing behind Vermont, the hosts of the race.
O’Brien continued her impressive sophomore campaign with a third-place finish, running a personal best 18:27.70. Fisher followed suit in sixth place, with a personal best of her own; she ran the race in 18:40.50. Holloway came in 12th place while Hawkins placed just outside the top 15.
MAAC Championships (October 28, Montgomery, NY)
Women’s 6K Results:
Marist failed to build off previous performances at the MAAC Championship, as they finished sixth overall with 159 points as Quinnipiac took home the MAAC Championship.
O’Brien earned a 12th-place finish in the 6K event and achieved All-MAAC honors. Fisher finished 26th overall with a time of 22:37.1, while Holloway finished 35th and clocked in at 23:15.8, McCaul, Ravent Stanet, Christina Diorio and Tori Mariano also placed within the top 60 runners.
NCAA Northeast Regional (Nov. 10, Bronx, NY)
Women’s 6k Results:
In her last race of the season, O’Brien led Marist for the sixth time, placing 114th overall out of 264 runners. Fisher finished within a similar vicinity, coming in 140th.
Off of the Course:
Marist had 20 MAAC All-Academic Team selections this year on the women’s cross-country team. The women had a successful fall, taking into account that their top runners were sophomores and freshmen. These runners had numerous races with PRs and continued to progress throughout the season.
“I’m really excited about next season. This year, our team kind of relied a lot on freshmen and sophomores,” said women’s cross country head coach Chuck Williams. “So we were probably the youngest team, not just in our conference, but in the region. No one else ran three freshmen and three sophomores. And so I’m really excited about how those girls will develop.”
The Red Foxes will look to use their cross-country season to propel their youth movement to further success during the track season.
Edited by Luke Sassa and Sam Murphy
Graphic by Stefan Duncan; Photos from Marist Athletics