Sept. 26, 2011

Newport News, Va. - Fordham University junior cross country runner Julian Saad (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) was named the Atlantic 10 Men's Cross Country Performer of the Week it was announced today for the week ending September 25th. It is the first weekly award of the year for Saad and the third in his Fordham career (he was named Rookie of the Week twice in 2009).

Saad won the individual championship at the 2011 Purple Valley Classic at William College on Saturday, covering the 8K course in a time of 26:13.27, over 14 seconds ahead of runner-up Michael Schmidt of Middlebury. It was the second career cross country win for Saad, who also won the St. John's Fall Festival 6K race last fall.

Fordham finished second in the team competition at the Purple Valley Classic among the 16 schools competing. Williams won the team title with 42 points followed by Fordham with 58 and Middlebury with 71.

The Fordham cross country squad will next be in action on Friday, October 7th, when they compete in the 2011 Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park beginning at 2:00 p.m.