Erik Donohoe ’08, Boxford, Mass., is a front-runner…and in cross country and track and field, that is not a bad place to be.

Donohoe, a two-time Liberty League All Academic team selection and a two-time league individual champion, helped the Saint men’s cross country team to its 12th consecutive league championship in early October, but has loftier goals in mind for the rest of his season.

A middle-distance standout in both indoor and outdoor track and field and league record-holder in the mile, the Masconomet Regional High School graduate became the first runner to win back-to-back individual cross country championships in the league meet since Olympic biathlete Lawton Redman won three straight championships from 1995 through 1997. The Saint standout won his first four races of the 2006 season and has been out of the top four just once in six races this season, although on that occasion he was the fourth finisher among Division III competitors in a race that included many Division I teams from throughout the Northeast.

With the New York State Collegiate Track Conference championships set for St. Lawrence’s Ronald C. Hoffmann cross country course in early November and the NCAA Atlantic Regional qualifier to follow, Donohoe has a couple of big races left to run with an eye on making the NCAA Division III championship race to conclude the season.

The 2005 Liberty League Runner of the Year in cross country, he is a strong candidate to repeat that honor with solid finishes in the major meets at the end of the season. He has been Liberty League Runner of the Week five times this season and ten times over the last two seasons.