Second man (blond) kneeling in the front row, Kieran Scannell has had an outstanding freshman cross country season at Williams College despite suffering from an autoimmune disorder. Kieran recently placed third at the conference meet, earning All-Conference honors.
How good is Kieran Scannell’s Division III college cross country team? Well, try this out for size: Kieran was the third man on the Williams College team and he placed third in the conference meet with a time of 26 minutes flat for 5 miles run on grass. There were 46 teams at the meet held at Colt State Park in Bristol, Rhode Island and the “Ephs” won going away with 26 points.
And they did it by running their junior varsity, resting the varsity for regionals and nationals.
Scannell, just a freshman, is currently the 10th man on the Williams College team in Williamstown, Maine. The top seven runners make the varsity, and the rest of the squad compete on the JV team.
Kieran might be in that top seven if his health had been better. He has suffered from an autoimmune disease the last couple of years, so his training has been repeatedly interrupted by bouts of asthma and pneumonia.
Williams College Head Coach Pete Farwell had this to say about Scannell in a recent collegiate publication, “We knew Kieran was a good runner coming in, but he had some health issues, and he had very modest training. We were confident he could contribute in future years, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a finish like that in this meet, this year.”
For his third place finish Scannell was awarded All-ECAC.
Kieran is a 2013 graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy. He is the son of Tim Scannell and Lynn Swanson of Grand Marais.
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