BOSTON – Suffolk women's cross country heads out on the trail for the first time in 2025 on Saturday, Aug. 30 at the Rams' own Short Course Classic at the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts. The women's 3k opens the event at 10:00 a.m. with the men's 5k set to wrap up the action at 10:45 a.m.
There will be a $10 admission fee for fans 10 and over. For those who cannot attend the race in person, they can follow results live here.
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RAPID REWIND
Suffolk women's cross country and conference champion have been synonymous for the last four seasons and Will Feldman's squad has every intention to keep it that way in 2025.
Despite the loss of four runners to graduation, the team brings back a bakers' dozen from the team that took fifth at NCAA Division III East Regionals, the team's best finish at regionals in program history. In that group is all-region runners Sofia Moukaddem and Amy Pattelena, who will lead the team as tri-captains alongside Shannon Groom.
RAMS RINGLEADERS
Suffolk women's cross country will have a new leadership group for the 2025 season as head coach Will Feldman has tabbed seniors Shannon Groom and Amy Pattelena and junior Sofia Moukaddem as tri-captains.
MORE READING: Trio to Captain Women's Cross Country in 2025
RAMS ROOKIES
Head coach Will Feldman has assembled an 11-member recruiting class for 2025 to add depth to an already experienced Suffolk women's cross country team that aims to extend its conference dominance for a fifth consecutive campaign.
The fresh faces marks the first time Feldman has welcomed double-digit newcomers to his squad, surpassing the previous record of nine, which made up the 2021 season's recruiting class.
MORE READING: Women's Cross Country Brings in Largest Recruiting Class for 2025
GEOGRAPHY 101
The two-dozen Rams hail from 11 U.S. states and one Canadian province, Quebec. Massachusetts has the most natives with nine with five coming to Beantown from New York. California, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont are represented by one student-athlete apiece.
CLASS CATEGORIES
Suffolk's 24-runner roster is underclassmen heavy with seven true freshmen and six sophomores. Eight juniors add a wealth of experience, as well as a pair of seniors and one graduate student.
COACH'S CORNER
Will Feldman returns for his ninth season at the helm of the Suffolk cross country and track & field programs.
He has brought the Rams to regional and national success in his time at the helm. His cross country highlights feature four women's conference championship, four individual appearances at NCAA Division III Championships and the University's first USTFCCCA All-American in cross country, Matyas Csiki-Fejer, who raced to the feat in 2021.
To aid Feldman on a full-time basis, the program added Associate Head Coach Kerstin Darsney in 2023.
Josh Brodin is back on Feldman's staff for his eighth season as an assistant coach, while former Rams Cole Bolduc and Justin Turner return for their third year as coaches. Amalia Dorion has joined the ranks this season as an assistant coach as well, after wrapping up her collegiate competition days last spring.
SUFFOLK SHORT COURSE CLASSIC
- The Suffolk Short Course Classic is back after a year-hiatus, but in a new location, Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park, in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
- The Rams started the Short Course Classic in 2021 and made it an annual event through 2023.
- The blue-and-gold's women's squad has finished fifth in every single Suffolk Short Course Classic in the three-year history of the event.
Amy Pattelena became the first Ram to run a sub-12:00.0 3k at the 2023 Short Course Classic en route to an 11th-place performance, the best individual showing by a Suffolk student-athlete at the event.
THE COURSE
Suffolk will race at the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts for the second straight season.
As a team, the Rams' women posted an average two-mile time of 12:01 to finish second in the field of eight at last season's 10th Annual Wheaton & Babson Season-Opener. Individually, Amalia Dorion clocked an 11:32.3 2 mile to finish third in the field of 81.
THE FIELD
The field features a representation from NCAA Division I and Division III.
Holy Cross and New Hampshire will send their men's and women's teams, while their DI counterpart Northeastern will run on the women's side only.
Suffolk's DIII counterparts, meanwhile, will see two other men's teams in the regional rankings in Babson and WPI.
Bridgewater State, Clark, Emerson, Emmanuel, Manhattanville, Mitchell, Plymouth State, Smith (women), Springfield, UMass Dartmouth, Wheaton and WPI are set to compete on Saturday as well.
THE DISTANCE
Things will be kept short and sweet in the season debut. The women will run a 3k, while the men will compete in a 5k.
COACH'S QUOTES
"Saturday will be a great opportunity for us to start incorporating our new runners, and getting a gauge for where we are going into the season," head coach Will Feldman said. "With three DI teams we will have excellent competition leading the pack."
RAMS TO WATCH
- Sofia Moukaddem, Grace Miller, Paige Estaphan and Katelyn Porter will step up and lead the way.
- Freshmen Kathleen Sullivan, Laina Frasier, Cassie Middleton and Chloe Koo will likely round out the scoring for Suffolk.
REGIONAL RANK
Days away from the first race of 2025, Suffolk women's cross country has tied a program-best fourth in the East Region in the Preseason U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Rankings, the national organization announced Tuesday.
Fourth matches the highest ranking for the Rams in program history and marks the first time Suffolk earned the feat since Week 1 of the 2024 campaign.
MORE READING: Women's Cross Country Ties Program-Best Ranking in USTFCCCA Regional Poll
SUFFOLK'S SCHEUDLE
The Rams have a few weeks off to prep for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, which is on tap Saturday, Sept. 20.
