ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Jackson Doran hadn't raced in the East Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Championship since finishing second to Roberts Wesleyan University teammate Owen White in 2023.

Injuries kept Doran out for the entire 2024 season and cut his 2025 campaign short.

He made up for that lost time on Saturday.

Doran, now a graduate student in his final season of competition with the Redhawks, passed Daemen senior Ethan Keating with about two kilometers to go and pulled away to win by nearly 14 seconds and secure the prize that had eluded him for nearly three years, leading Roberts to its 12^th consecutive ECC Championship.

"He had me nervous through that middle bit, but I was able to fight through," said Doran, who finished the 8K course on the Matt St. James Trail in 24:59.7 as Roberts placed nine runners in the top 13. "I am still coming to my senses after 8K of fighting with some of the dogs of the ECC, so it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

"But it will."

Juniors Trevor Heitkamp (25:30.6), Jakob Zibbel (25:31.5) and Charles Matzke (25:31.8) and senior Vincent Ciraolo (26:10) finished fourth through seventh, respectively, as Roberts finished with 23 points. Daemen was second with 52 and Saint Thomas Aquinas placed third with 104.

Doran earned Most Outstanding Runner and All-ECC first-team along with Heitkamp, Zibbel, Matzke and Ciraolo.

"Vinny had a big PR," Dorr said.

After being passed by Keating at the 4-kilometer mark of the race, Doran decided to use the momentum gained coming down a hill to retake the lead.

"At that point you've got to make a move," Doran said. "You've got to create a gap in order to beat guys like that. When you put down your trump card, you've got to go for it."

"Inside the last 2,000 meters he just opened up the gap and brought it home," Roberts Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Andrew Dorr said.

Sophomore Braden Fears (ninth in 26:25.3) and junior Juvenal Diaz-Cortes (11^th in 26:41.5) earned All-ECC second-team honors along with sophomore Joel Amstutz (12^th in 26:50.9) and freshman Garret Tracy (13^th in 26:59.0).

Sophomore Isaiah McIntyre (27:19.0), juniors Hunter Himebaugh (27:20.9) and Andrew O'Dell (27:22.4) and freshman John Doherty (27:32.1) took places 17 through 20 for Roberts.

The Redhawks will compete in the NCAA Division II East Regional on Nov. 21 at Bethpage State Park.