It was only his first week at the State University of New York at New Paltz and Matt Whitworth found himself sitting in the coach's office with a tense aura looming. "Listen Matt, this is your third school in three years," said one former cross country coach. "You are running out of chances." Despite the bleak conversation, the Hudson Valley ultimately became a safe haven for Whitworth. Through discovering a kinship with the team's current regime, helmed by Hawks head coach Aislinn Ryan, and embracing the New Paltz community, he would come to think of his arrival in Ulster County as a watershed moment in his distinctive career.