Men's Cross Country

TCNJ's Chen Wins Individual Title as Lions Capture NCAA Metro Regional Championship

RESULTS

LOGAN TOWNSHIP, NJ --- The College of New Jersey's Brandon Chen captured the individual NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Metro Regional title on Saturday, leading the Lions to the team championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 22 in Spartanburg, SC.
 
The victory was the program’s first in the Metro Region era and first regional crown since 2005, along with the first NCAA berth since 2016.
 
In addition to TCNJ’s team qualification to the NCAA Championships, Rutgers-Camden’s Jacob Dinerman and Rowan’s Matthew Conway also punched their tickets to the national meet.
 
Chen crossed the finish line in 24:25.3, more than 12 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, to claim the regional crown. The individual victory highlighted a dominant team performance as TCNJ placed all five scoring runners in the top 20 to secure the team title with just 56 points. The Lions dominated as they finished 20 points better than runner-up Swarthmore.
 
Kevin Matthews followed Chen with a ninth-place finish in 24:49.9, while Matt Granizo placed 12th (25:01.5) and Josh Santiago finished 16th (25:17.0). Moksh Patwari rounded out the scoring five in 18th place with a time of 25:18.4. Phil Pace and Evan Melito crossed back-to-back in 23rd and 24th.
 
Jacob Dinerman of Rutgers-Camden finished fourth in a program-record 24:43.4, and Matthew Conway of Rowan took seventh in 24:48.2.
 
Rowan finished fifth in the team standings with 179 points, while Stockton placed eighth with 255 points. Ramapo (14th), Kean (17th), Rutgers-Camden (18th), and Rutgers-Newark (25th) rounded out the team finishes.
 
The top 35 individual finishers earned All-Metro Region honors. The 12 NJAC runners earning all-region recognition included:
 
1. Brandon Chen, TCNJ
4. Jacob Dinerman, Rutgers-Camden
7. Matthew Conway, Rowan
9. Kevin Matthews, TCNJ
12. Matt Granizo, TCNJ
16. Josh Santiago, TCNJ
18. Moksh Patwari, TCNJ
23. Phil Pace, TCNJ
24. Evan Melito, TCNJ
31. Colin Patterson, Rowan
32. Conor Clifford, Stockton
35. Joshua Corsentino, Stockton