By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University senior Kevin McBirney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) is the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year.
McBirney won the MASCAC individual championship and helped the Bears earn the team title last Saturday at the Doyle Conservation Center in Leominster, Mass.
He is the first BSU male student-athlete to be recognized as the Runner of the Year since Trevor Wysong, who finished first in 2018 and 2019.
BSU coach Christine Kloiber, now in her third season, was chosen the MASCAC Coach of the Year for the first time after guiding the Bears to their first title since 2022.
Four runners joined McBirney on the All-MASCAC team -- junior Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown, R.I.), sophomore Aydan Fournier (Assonet, Mass.), junior Mitchell Parent (Cumberland, Maine), and senior Kenny Goodwin (Chelmsford, Mass.).
The top ten runners at the MASCAC Championship meet earn All-MASCAC honors while the meet champion is the conference runner of the year.
McBirney covered the 8-kilometer course in 26:20.99, winning by five seconds in a field of 78 runners.
A year ago, McBirney was unable to finish the race in unseasonable warm conditions and he missed the 2022 season due to an injury.
As a freshman in 2021, McBirney placed fourth in 26:38.38 for his first all-conference honor.
McBirney has been the MASCAC runner of the week five times this season and nine times in his career.
He was fourth at the Wheaton/Babson Season Opener, 51st out of 342 runners at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, 11th at the Keene State Invitational and 74th out of 269 at the Connecticut College Invitational.
Along with McBirney and Wysong, other BSU male student-athletes who have won the MASCAC championship in recent years are Andy Sukeforth (2014), Stephen Wahome (2012) and Avery Bouchard (2008).
Ackroyd finished fourth with a time of 26:35.08 for his second All-MASCAC performance. He was second in the 2023 race.
Fournier finished fifth in a personal-best 26:42.95.
Parent had a personal-best time of 26:46.72 to place sixth. He was also an all-conference runner in 2023 with a ninth-place finish.
Goodwin took seventh with a time of 26:53.89.
BSU won the team title for a third time in five years and ninth overall. The Bears have two championships in Kloiber's three seasons.
BSU will take part in the NCAA Division 3 East Region race in Contoocock, N.H., on Nov. 16.
Samuel Edwards of Fitchburg State is the 2024 MASCAC Rookie of the Yearafter finishing eighth in 26:55.80.
Also on the all-conference team are Michael Burns and Taban Manyok of Fitchburg State, Aaron Corlette of Framingham State and Nathan Sylven of Westfield State.