Liberty League Release | RPI Athletics on Facebook

TROY, N.Y. - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete Grant O'Connor has been named the Liberty League Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year and the Engineers' coaches, led by John Lynch, garnered Staff of the Year, the conference has announced.

A junior, O'Connor (West Hartford, CT / Hall) capped the 2017 season with a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championship Meet, running the 8K course in 24:19.3 to earn National All-America for the second straight year. Nationals was hosted by Principia College at the North Farm Facility in Elsah, Ill.

The week before at the NCAA Men's Cross Country Atlantic Regional Championship Meet, O'Connor led the Engineers to a second place finish and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship by running the 8K course in a 4:53 pace for a total time of 24:14.5. He held the lead throughout and won by almost five seconds. The victory was his fourth straight, including setting the meet and course record at the Liberty League Championship with a time of 24:55.9 in late October.

In addition to earning Runner of the Year, O'Connor, an electrical engineering major, earned Liberty League Performer of the Week five times, Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year and conference All-Academic honors.

Lynch and assistant coach Kailyn Balsano led a team that won five events, including the league championship, and a pair of runner-up finishes. The Engineers finished 14th in the nation after qualifying automatically for the NCAA Championship Meet with a second place finish at the Atlantic Regional. RPI had seven All-League runners, four who earned All-Region and ten who garnered All-Academic.

This is the second straight year Rensselaer's coaches have been honored by the conference. It is also the second consecutive Runner of the Year for RPI, which had Benjamin Fazio win the award in 2016.
 

Meet (Host)	Date	Grant's Finish	Time	Distance		Team Finish	Recognition
Cardinal Classic (Plattsburgh)	Sept. 2	N/A	N/A	5K		1st of 4	Rookie of the Week (Reed)
Ron Stonisch Invitational (Vassar)	Sept. 9	10th of 121	19.44.7	6K		1st of 10	Rookie of the Week (Jaques)
Purple Valley Classic (Williams)	Sept. 23	2nd of 324	26:04.2	8K		2nd of 26	Rookie of the Week (Davis)
Saratoga Invitational (Rensselaer)	Sept. 30	1st of 235	24:56.9	8K		1st of 16	Performer of the Week (G. O'Connor)
Highlander Invitational (Houghton)	Oct. 7	N/A	N/A	8K		7th of 16
Connecticut College	Oct. 14	1st of 282	24:32.4	8K		1st of 20	Performer of the Week (G. O'Connor) & Rookie of the Week (Davis)
Liberty League Championship (Vassar)	Oct. 28	1st of 138	24:55.9	8K		1st of 9	Performer of the Week (G. O'Connor)
NCAA Atlantic Regional (Houghton)	Nov. 11	1st of 290	24:14.5	8K		2nd of 42	Performer of the Week (G. O'Connor)
NCAA Championship (Principia)	Nov. 18	4th of 279	24:19.3	8K		14th of 32	Performer of the Week (G. O'Connor) & Rookie of the Week (Davis)