NEW YORK — Alex Helfant (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy International) from the St. Joseph's University, N.Y. – Brooklyn cross country team has been recognized as the Skyline Conference's men's Rookie of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday morning.
In his first full cross-country season, the senior was the top finisher for the Bears in each of their initial three meets. At the Golden Eagle Invitational on Saturday, hosted by St. Joseph's (Long Island), Helfant recorded a personal best of 36:50.0 on the 8k course, finishing 124th out of 169 runners. He was among nine SJBK runners, both male and female, to achieve personal records.
Helfant is only the second men's runner in the Bears' Skyline Conference history to receive a weekly award, following Justin Russell '19, who was named Rookie of the Week during the 2017 season. Last year, Jennifer Sarji earned the league's top rookie honor three times on the women's side.
The Bears will compete next at the Queensborough CC Invitational on Sunday, October 6, at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, with the women's race starting at 11 am and the men's race at noon.
