2022 NEWMAC Cross Country Championships
Sunday, October 30 | 11 a.m. (women) / 12 p.m. (men)
Highland Park (Mark Coogan Course) | Attleboro, Mass.
COURSE MAP
WHAT TO KNOW
• Seven men's teams and 11 women's squads will travel to Attleboro, Mass., on Sunday to participate in the 2022 NEWMAC Cross Country Championships.
• The Mark Coogan Course at Highland Park will host the men's 8k race and the women's 6k competition for the first time in conference history.
2021 NEWMAC CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
• The Babson men matched the highest finish in program history by coming in third, while the women placed 11th at the 2021 NEWMAC Championships at Nehoiden Golf Club in Wellesley, Mass.
• Junior Anthony Rodriguez placed ninth overall in the men's race with a time of 25:37 as the Beavers matched the 2002 and 2016 squads for the best team result in program history.
• Senior Yudai Yamakawa came in 24th with a time of 26:46 and graduate student Ryan Wilson placed 30th in a time of 27:03 for the Babson men.
SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers returned to action following a three-week hiatus at the Connecticut College Invitational on October 15.
• Rodriguez placed 24th among 382 runners with a time of 24:58 in the White race, while Wilson took third in a time of 26:16 and sophomore Julian Ivarra was three spots behind him in six with a time of 26:29 to help the Green and White come in fifth in the Blue race.
• Yamakawa posted a season-best time of 27:29 and first-year Max Gregoire crossed the finish line with a career-best time of 27:54 on the 8k course at Harkness Park.
• Rodriguez leads the team with an average time of 25:09, Wilson (26:26) and Ivarra (26:36) are separated by just 10 seconds, and sophomore Zachary Walker, who did not run at Connecticut College, is fourth on the squad with an average 8k time of 27:13.
SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers had four runners participate in the 6k Connecticut College White race on October 15.
• First-year Chloe Clifford posted a season-best time of 24:45 to finish 24th overall, classmate Alexandra Kirkpatrick was 39th in a time of 25:24 and the duo of sophomore Ali Thomas (25:39) and senior Nicole Johns (25:56) placed 47th and 51st, respectively, for the Green and White.
• Clifford (24:53) and Kirkpatrick (25:01) are first and second on the squad in average 6k time and both own a pair of top-40 finishes, while Thomas is third on the team at 25:47.
• Johns, who is the only Babson harrier with previous conference championship experience, owns an average time of 25:54 in two 6k races this fall.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• No. 2 MIT, which finished as the runner-up at last year's Division III Championship, is once again a heavy favorite in the men's race after having 15 of the top 19 finishers at the 2021 conference meet.
• WPI and Babson are ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in the East Region, while the Springfield men are currently ninth in the Mideast Region.
• The women's race features a pair of nationally-ranked squads in No. 6 MIT, which had five of the top 12 finishers on the way to claiming its 14th straight conference title last fall, and No. 27 Smith, which placed third behind Wellesley last November.
• In addition to the nationally-ranked programs, Coast Guard is currently sixth in the Mideast Region, while WPI (6th) and Wellesley (7th) are both ranked in the East Region.
TASTE OF HIGHLAND PARK
• The Beavers joined Clark, Smith, Springfield and Wheaton in competing at Highland Park to kick off the 2022 campaign back on September 2.
• Babson placed second behind Springfield in the men's 5k with Rodriguez, Walker, Wilson and Ivarra all recording top-10 finishes.
• Kirkpatrick came in a team-best 15th as the Beavers placed sixth in the 2-mile women's race.
CHASING HISTORY
• The Babson men finished a program-best second at the Constitution Athletic Conference (CAC) Championship back in 1990 and have finished third three times (2002, 2016, 2021) since joining the NEWMAC in 1998.
• The Babson women came in a program-best fifth at the 1986 NEW 8 Championship and have finished as high as sixth twice (2010, 2011) during the NEWMAC era.
• Rodriguez (25:37, 2021) and Matthew Dynan (25:48, 2017) own the Beavers' top men's times the conference meet, while Emma Cavanagh '21 ran a program-best time of 23:13 in the women's 6k to earn all-conference honors at the 2019 NEWMAC Championship.
UP NEXT
• Babson will travel to Brunswick, Maine, for the NCAA East Region Championships at Bowdoin on November 12.
