Cross Country at the NCAA East Region Championships
Saturday, November 12 | 11 a.m. (women)/12 p.m. (men)
Pickard Field Course | Brunswick, Maine
8k MAP | 6k MAP
WHAT TO KNOW
• The Babson men's and women's cross country teams travel Brunswick, Maine, to compete in one of 10 regional championship meets across the country on Saturday.
• The women will run a 6k race at 11 a.m., which will be followed by the men's 8k race at the Pickard Field Course.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
• The men's and women's team winners and seven individuals from non-qualifying squads will earn an opportunity to compete at the NCAA Division III Championships in East Lansing, Mich., on November 19.
• In addition to the automatic qualifiers, the NCAA will announce its 22 at-large selections per gender on Sunday.
2021 EAST REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS RECAP
• Junior Anthony Rodriguez finished with a time of 26:17 and placed 16th overall to help the Babson men come in seventh at Franklin Park last November.
• Graduate student Ryan Wilson came in 45th with a time of 27:30 as the Beavers recorded their highest finish since 1995 and the lowest point total (241) in program history.
• Sophomore Angela Hagstrom ran a time of 26:45 to help the Babson women finish in 25th overall.
SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers enter the regional championship meet coming off a third-place finish at the NEWMAC Championship back on October 30.
• Rodriguez came in seventh with a time of 25:12 on the 8k course at Highland Park, while Wilson (26:24) and sophomore Julian Ivarra (26:49) finished 20th and 24th, respectively, as the Beavers finished with 89 points to match their lowest total since the formation of the conference in 1998.
• Rodriguez (25:09) owns the team's top average time this fall, while Wilson (26:25) has been the number two finisher for the Green and White in three of four races.
• Ivarra owns an average 8k time of 26:39, while sophomore Zachary Walker (27:21), senior Yudai Yamakawa (27:31) and first-year Max Gregoire (27:54) were separated by just six seconds at the conference championship meet.
SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers got personal best times from a pair of runners and placed ninth at the NEWMAC Championship on October 30 at Highland Park in Attleborough, Mass.
• First-year Chloe Clifford finished with a season-best time of 24:42 in the 6k race, classmate Alexandra Kirkpatrick crossed the finish line in a time of 25:12 and senior Nicole Johns posted a career-best time of 25:34 to lead the Beavers.
• Clifford, who owns an average 6k time of 24:44, has been the team's top finish in two of three races, while Kirkpatrick is second on the squad with an average time of 25:04 this fall.
• Johns is third on the team with 25:47 season average, sophomore Ali Thomas (26:01) is one of three harriers set to make her regional debut, and Hagstrom crossed the finish line with a time of
TOP COMPETITION
• The men's field features four nationally-ranked teams led by No. 2 MIT and 17th-ranked Colby, which finished second at the NESCAC Championship on October 29.
• No. 30 Bates, No. 31 Tufts, Bowdoin, WPI and Babson are all among the top seven in the region entering this weekend's meet.
• The women's field features No. 6 MIT, No. 16 Bates, which placed third at the NESCAC meet, and No. 28 Tufts battling for the automatic bid to the Division III Championship.
FIRST LOOK
• The Beavers got an early look at the Pickard Field Course when it competed at the Bowdoin Invitational back on September 24.
• Rodriguez was the runner-up with a time of 25:15 and the Green and White placed fourth overall in the men's race behind Tufts, Bowdoin and Suffolk.
• Kirkpatrick came in 24th overall with a time of 24:38 to help the Babson women place fifth in their 6k debut.
RACING INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS
• Rodriguez record the second highest finish (16th) and became just the fourth Babson male to earn all-region honors last season.
• He enters this weekend's championship looking to become the first male in program history to earn a second all-region award.
TIMES TO BEAT
• Mark Gulesian '15 ran the top regional championship time in men's program history (25:26) at Westfield State in 2012.
• Babson's top women's time at the NCAA regional championships belongs to Marina Capalbo '15, who crossed the finish line in 22:04 back in 2013.
