The Yeshiva University Men’s Cross Country Team enters the 2014 season as dynasty holder of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC). The Maccabees have won the HVIAC championship the past four years, and could make it a half a decade with another successful run this year. (Just as impressive was the Maccabees’ second place finish at last year’s competitive Skyline Conference championship race, the best in program history.)

With an abundance of returning talent from last season’s team, along with top shelf new talent, something special could be brewing for the Maccabees in 2014.

Returning for the Maccabees this season includes a pair of all-conference performers, Dov Levine (W. Hempstead, N.Y., Hebrew Acad. of Nassau) and Isaac Markel (Teaneck, N.J., TABC). Last season, Levine was a rock for Yeshiva. He never finished lower than 13th in any race, and he ran a personal best of 27:19 at the HVIAC championship race en route to being named an All-Skyline second-team member. Last season Markel finished fifth at the HVIAC championship race in a personal best time of 27:37.

Another returnee for the Yeshiva cross country team includes Moshe Blockman (Memphis, Tenn., Cooper Yeshiva) who is back from last season’s injury that caused him to miss most last year. Also back this season is Joseph Lipton (Toronto, Ont., Bnei Akiva) whose personal best time last year was 28:40, Shuey Mirkin (Baltimore, Md., Talmudical Academy) whose personal best time was 30:02, Noam Polster (Cleveland, Ohio, FMS) whose best time was 28:23 a year ago, and Shmuel Weinstein (Teaneck, N.J., MTA) whose best time was 31:29 last season.

The Yeshiva University team opened its 2014 season with a strong third-place finish of 13 teams at the Baruch College Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park last Sunday morning.