BURLINGTON, Vt. – University of Vermont head coach Matt Belfield announced his leadership group for the 2021 men's and women's cross country spring season on Monday. Graduate students Ross Elkort and Kasey Gelfand plus senior Matt Hynes will lead the men's team. Seniors Caroline O'Shea and Lexi Sutyak along with junior Jane Leighton will serve as team captains for the women's team.
 
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"We are excited for the opportunity to race other teams starting next month, and these leaders have been instrumental in helping bridge the long gap from last year to now," said Belfield. "I am very impressed with how the team navigated the fall semester; and we are well prepared for the season ahead."
 
As a junior in 2018, Elkort had a season-best 11th-place finish at the Vermont Fall Foliage Invite (8k) with a time of 26:06.3. He also placed 15th in the Aldrich Invitational (8k) after crossing the line at 27:47.0.
 
Last season, Gelfand raced his way to a season-best 12th-place finish at the Aldrich Invitational and was clocked at 27:37.9. In the season opener at Hard'Ack Recreation Area, he logged a 20th-place finish against UMass Lowell with an 8k time of 27:20.0.
 
Hynes had a strong start to the 2019 season with an eight-place finish in the season-opening race with UMass Lowell and recorded a time of 26:09.6. The Montpelier native placed 49th in the America East Championships and set a 10k personal-best time of 31:13.2 at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship.
 
O'Shea returns as a captain for the second consecutive season. As a junior, she opened the season with a 10th-place finish and a time of 18:53.8 against UMass Lowell. She also posted a time of 19:26.5 at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown.
 
As a junior, Sutyak registered a 5k personal-best time of 19:08.5 and took 21st place at the Fall Foliage Invite. She recorded a 6k personal-best time of 23:06.7 at the Paul Short Invite.
 
Last year, Leighton notched her first-career top-five finish against UMass Lowell in the opening meet with a time of 18:35.4. She also had a top-10 finish at the Fall Foliage Invite after crossing the line at 18:36.7. She placed 32nd in the 2019 America East Championships (18:16.0) and set a 6k personal-best time of 21:18.9 at the NCAA Northeast Regionals.
 
In last year's America East Championships, the Catamounts had their highest team finishes in over two decades. The women's second-place finish was their highest in the conference championship meet since 1999. The men took third place – their best conference finish since the 1992 season.
 
Vermont will open the 2021 spring season at New Hampshire on Saturday, Feb. 6. The meet will start at 1:45 p.m. The America East Championships will be hosted by Stony Brook on Friday, March 5.