Cross Country at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational
Saturday, September 17 | 11:15 a.m. (men) / 12 p.m. (women)
Bob Dowd Course | Dartmouth, Mass.
THE SETUP
• The Babson men's and women's cross country teams are set to compete in the UMass Dartmouth Invitational for the second consecutive season on Saturday.
• The men's 8k race is set to start at 11:15 a.m. and will be followed by the women's 5k meet at 12 p.m.
2021 UMASS DARTMOUTH INVITATIONAL RECAP
• Junior Anthony Rodriguez posted the top 8k time in men's program history (24:29) and finished sixth overall to help the Babson men place fifth overall last September.
• Graduate student Ryan Wilson posted a time of 25:17 that ranks fifth in men's program annals to help the Beavers record their top result at UMass Dartmouth since finishing third in 1999.
• Alyssa Keith crossed the finish line with a team-best time of 21:10 in the women's 5k race to help Babson place 26th overall.
SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers opened the season with a sixth-place finish at the Wheaton Invitational on September 2.
• First-year Alexandra Kirkpatrick came in 15th with a time of 12:39 in the 2-mile race, while classmate Chloe Clifford crossed the finish line in 12:48 to place 18th overall.
• Senior Nicole Johns placed 25th in a time of 12:58, while sophomore Ali Thomas (13:19) and first-year Avery Butt (14:35) both made their collegiate debuts for the Green and White.
SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers got the 2022 campaign underway by finishing second at the Wheaton Invitational on September 2.
• Rodriguez came in second on the 5k course with a time of 15:44, while sophomore Zachary Walker (16:43), Wilson (16:47) and sophomore Julian Ivarra (16:58) placed seventh through ninth for the Green and White.
• First-year Max Gregoire came in 13th in his collegiate debut with a time of 17:21, while senior Yudai Yamakawa (Marion, Mass.) was 18 seconds behind him in 15th position.
RUNNING INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
• In addition to Rodriguez breaking the 1991 school-record time set by Joey Curtis '92 last fall, seven of the top 12 8k times in men's program history have been run on the Bob Dowd Course at UMass Dartmouth.
• Mark Gulesian '15, who ran 25:09 in 2012 and 25:17 in 2014, owns two of the top six times in program annals, while Wilson (25:17), Walker (25:39), Ivarra (26:12), and Yamakawa (26:15) achieved the top times of their respective careers in last year's race at UMass Dartmouth.
• Nine of the top 30 times in Babson women's history have come at UMass Dartmouth.
PRESENCE IN THE POLLS
• The Babson men were picked to finish third and the women 10th when the NEWMAC released its preseason coaches' polls on Wednesday.
• The Beaver men boast 12 consecutive top-five finishes at the NEWMAC Championship but have recorded back-to-back third-place results since the early 1990s as a member of the Constitution Athletic Conference (CAC).
• The men are also ranked seventh in the USTFCCCA East Region poll.
HISTORY LESSON
• The Beavers are set to race at UMass Dartmouth for the 21st time in the last 25 years on Saturday.
• The men's team has posted seven top-10 finishes, which includes a third-place showing in 1999 to go along with last year's fifth-place result.
• The women's squad has come in as high as 12th three times, the last of which came in 2011.
UP NEXT
• Babson is right back in action next Saturday when it travels to Brunswick, Maine, for the Bowdoin Invitational.
