Trinity Captains Earn Men's X-Country All-NESCAC, Suitor Nabs Coach of the Year Honors
Hartford, Conn., Nov. 11 - Trinity College men's cross country senior co-captains Hunter Norte (Ellington, Conn.) and Sam Moorhead (Dedham, Mass.) were each selected to the 2008 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) All-Conference Team and Bantam head coach George Suitor (Manchester, Conn.) was voted the 2008 NESCAC Coach of the Year. Norte was named to the All-NESCAC First Team and Moorhead graced the All-NESCAC Second Team. Norte was a 2005 All-NESCAC Second Team selection, the 2005 NESCAC Rookie of the Year, a 2006 All-NESCAC First Teamer, and the 2006 NESCAC Performer of the Year. Moorhead was an All-NESCAC First Team honoree last fall.
Norte and Moorhead earned this year's awards, after finishing fourth and 10th, respectively, to lead Trinity to a second-place finish in the NESCAC Championship Meet on Nov. 1. In the 8,000-meter race, Norte recorded a time of 25:51 and Moorhead came in at 26:13, as Trinity, then-ranked No. 19 in the nation, totaled 85 points to edge No. 8-ranked Amherst by eight. Williams College won the meet with 44 points.
Norte recorded a season-best time of 25:24 in fourth-place finishes at both the Shriner's Invitational and Mass.-Dartmouth and the Saratoga Invitational in upstate New York. He also won the season-opening, 5,000-meter Trinity Invitational at Wickham Park with a time of 16:21. As a sophomore, Norte won the NESCAC Championship Meet with a time of 26:13 and the NCAA Division III New England Championship title at 25:37. He was named as the 2006 United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) New England Division III Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year for his performance. Norte, who boasts a career-best time of 24:40 in the 2007 Paul Short Run at Lehigh, was plagued by injuries late last fall, but has come back strong in his senior year. In track, Norte excels in the middle distance and distance events and in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He holds the Bantam steeplechase record of 9:11.89 and was a part of Trinity's 2006 record-breaking, 4x800-meter relay foursome that posted a time of 7:47.29. A graduate of Ellington High School, Norte is majoring in economics at Trinity. He is the daughter of Lisa and Alfredo Norte.
Moorhead, who has missed time with injuries this fall, recorded a season-best time of 25:56 in an eighth-place finish at the Pre-National Meet in Indiana. He also came in third place in the James Early Invitational at Westfield State with a time of 26:13. Last fall, Moorhead placed third in the NESCAC Championships, earned All-New England honors with a third-place finish in the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships, and led the Bantams at the NCAA Division III National Championships with a 39th-place time of 25:18. He has a career-best time of 24:53 in the 2007 Shriner's Invitational at Mass.-Dartmouth. In track, Moorhead excels in the middle distance events and earned 2007 Indoor All-American honors in the 800 meters. He is part of Trinity's record-holding, 4x800-meter relay foursome in both indoor (7:39.39) and outdoor track (7:47.29, with Norte) and its record-holding, distance medley relay quartet (9:59.18). A graduate of St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, Moorhead is majoring in economics and public policy & law at Trinity. He is the son of Susan and Stephen Moorhead.
In his 17th season at Trinity, Suitor has raised the Trinity College men's and women's cross country programs to elite status in New England. The Bantams' second-place team finish in the NESCAC Men's Championship Meet was its best since 2001. He guided Trinity's men's team to the NCAA Division III National Championships in 2000, 2006, and 2007, and this year's group is poised to contend for New England and national titles. The Bantam women's team reached the NCAA Division III National Championships in 2002 and 2003, and finished as the 2003 NCAA Division III National Runners-Up in a tremendous performance that ranks among the best in Trinity sports history. Suitor came to Trinity in 1992 after a highly successful tenure at the high school level. His scholastic teams (Manchester) won three state championships and three runner-up distinctions, and achieved more than 225 dual-meet victories. At Trinity, eight All-Americans and 13 All-New England runners are testaments to the success of Suitor's coaching. Suitor also coaches Trinity's men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field squads.
