XC wins NEWMACs
MIT Men’s Cross Country, which is now ranked sixth in New England, captured its 15th consecutive New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championship title last Saturday afternoon. The Engineers have won every year since the inception of the conference in 1998. With 33 points, they edged out last year’s runner-up Springfield, with 44 points, and WPI, who moved up two places from last year, with 89. The Engineers’ highest finisher was Roy A. Wedge ’14, who finished in fourth place with a time of 26:02.28 in the 8k run. He was followed soon after by Benjamin A. Mattocks ’13 in fifth with a time of 26:08.01.
Justin L. Bullock ’14 crossed the line with a time of 26:21.41 in seventh place, a few seconds behind Ryan Moran of WPI. Breaking the tape soon after were Allen K. Leung ’15, Ian P. Tolan ’16, Edgar Gridello ’16, and Matthew G. Jordan ’16, all within seven seconds of each other, taking places eight through 11. Tolan received NEWMAC Rookie of the Year honors for his ninth place finish.
Following soon after Jordan and narrowly behind Zach Pietras of Springfield, Benji Xie ’15, who was last year’s NEWMAC Rookie of the Year, broke the tape in 13th position with a time of 26:30.34. Logan M. Trimble n’13 finished less than a second later (26:31.05) in 14th place. Wrapping up the top 20 runners was Ricardo Paez ’15 in 18th place with a time of 27:04.74.
The Engineers will continue with their season at the New England Regional Championship on Nov. 10.