EASTON, Mass. – The 2026-2027 Senior Reflections is a series of annual collections. Senior representatives of teams at Stonehill have been invited to contribute and reflect on their personal experiences over their four-year careers at Stonehill - both on and off the playing surface. 

Nicholas Davies, Men's Cross Country
 
I chose Stonehill because of the people. The facilities and the academics were huge selling points, of course, but to leave New Zealand – 17 hours of flying, a family who would be watching my races at 4am – I needed to know I was going to be surrounded by great people. I remember meeting the Boens on Zoom for the first time in March of 2023. They spoke with a candor I hadn't heard from anyone before, and it exuded confidence in both the school and the program. When I spoke with the team, I immediately resonated with the togetherness. You can't fake authenticity
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That said, deciding on a place from a screen and actually landing in it are two different things. What I found was better than what I'd been sold – a campus greener than I'd expected, trails through Borderland State Park that became my favorite place to train, and a legendary roommate in Colin Keane who's now one of my closest mates. Within weeks I ran races for something bigger than myself. The only thing I couldn't get used to was the cold. Still can't.

This program is a culture of brotherhood honed by the two greatest coaches I could have asked for. Iron sharpens iron is the overarching theme here. The guys I walked in the door with freshman year are now my best friends and will be for life.

There are more highlights than I can fit here, but a few stand out. Athletically, winning the distance medley relay at NECs with some of my closest mates – having the easiest anchor job in the world was nice; celebrating a stride too early and missing the NEC record wasn't. I still hear about it. Academically, landing an internship on Wall Street was surreal for a kid who grew up 9,000 miles away.

Then there's the three weeks back home in New Zealand with the guys I'd crossed an ocean to meet. I left home alone four years ago. I came back with brothers.

Stonehill gave me all of that, but it is what you make of it. If I could tell my freshman-self one piece of advice, it would be this: work hard, do the things no one else wants to do, and you will do things no one else can.
 
 
To view the past Senior Reflections visit this site: 2026-2027 Senior Reflections. 

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