Benjamin Fazio Named Liberty League Performer of the Week

2015 Sep 15

Benjamin Fazio of East Greenwich has been named the Performer of the Week in men's cross country, the Liberty League has announced.

A junior, Fazio (East Greenwich, RI / East Greenwich) overcame a three-second deficit with a quarter mile to go and won the Saratoga Invitational by more than seven seconds on Saturday at Saratoga State Park. He ran the 6K course in a 5:04 pace, finishing with a time of 18:51.5. It was his first race of the season and he helped the Engineers to a third place finish in the 21-school meet that featured 302 runners.

Fazio is coming off a sophomore season in which he finished second (25:21.3) at the Liberty League Championship, helping RPI to second, and eighth at the NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship, qualifying for the NCAA National Championships. He ran a season-best 24:32.4 (4:56 mile pace) at the national event, placing 26th to earn National All-America and becoming Rensselaer's first men's cross country National All-America. He was also All-Liberty League First Team and All-Region.

As a freshman, the materials engineering major was All-Liberty League Second Team after finishing 14th at the league championship.

Fazio and the rest of the Engineers travel to Maine for the Bates College Super Cross Country Shootout on Saturday (11:45am).