2023 NEWMAC Cross Country Championships
Saturday, October 28 | 11 a.m. (men) / 12 p.m. (women)
Smith Cross Country Course | Northampton, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    Eight men's teams and 12 women's squads are set to compete in the 2023 NEWMAC Cross Country Championships on the campus of Smith on Saturday morning. 
•    The men's 8k race and women's 6k race return to the Smith Cross Country Course for the first time since 2018 and fifth time dating back to 2012. 

2022 NEWMAC CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS
•    The Babson men matched their lowest point total in NEWMAC history on the way to finishing third, while the Beavers finished ninth in the women's race held at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass.
•    Senior Anthony Rodriguez placed seventh, Ryan Wilson '22 M'23 came in 20th and junior Julian Ivarra was 24th for the Babson men, which totaled 89 points to come in third for the third consecutive championship. 
•    Sophomores Chloe Clifford and Alexandra Kirkpatrick placed 46th and 58th, respectively, for the Babson women, who were just 15 points behind eighth-place Wheaton. 

SCOUTING THE BABSON MEN
•    The Beavers wrapped up the regular season by placing 17th at the Connecticut College Invitational, which featured nine nationally-ranked teams, back on October 14. 
•    Rodriguez broke his own program record in the 8k by seven seconds with a time of 24:22 and Ivarra placed 67th with a career-best time of 25:50 as all nine Babson runners set new personal bests on the Harkness Park course. 
•    Rodriguez (24:50), Ivarra (26:12), first-year Ethan Jina (27:30) and sophomore Max Gregoire (27:35) own the top four average times on the squad and have been the Beavers' top finishers in each of their 8k races this fall. 
•    Six of Babson's nine harriers will make their NEWMAC Championship debut on Saturday morning. 

SCOUTING THE BABSON WOMEN
•    The Beavers are coming off a 26th-place finish that saw five runners post the top 6k times of their respective careers at the Connecticut College Invitational back on October 14. 
•    Junior Ali Thomas (25:04), senior Alyssa Keith (25:18), sophomore Avery Butt (26:04) and junior Eujin Shin (26:22) all posted career-best times, while first-year Lassiter Forreger finished the course in a time of 26:05 in her 6k debut. 
•    Keith (25:26), Butt (26:19) and first-year Isabella Mozilo (26:20) own the top average times among the five harriers that have run in both 6k races this fall for the Green and White. 
•    Thomas, Clifford, Kirkpatrick and Shin, who raced in 2021, are the only Babson runners with conference championship experience. 

HISTORY LESSON 
•    The Babson men placed third at the 2016 NEWMAC Championship held at Smith and came in fifth in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
•    The Babson women finished seventh in 2018, ninth in 2012 and 2014 and 11th in 2016 on the Smith XC Course. 

LEAVING HIS MARK ON THE RECORD BOOKS
•    Rodriguez, who joined Matthew Dynan '19 and Chris Perry '04 as the only Babson men's runners to register back-to-back top-10 finishes at the NEWMAC Championship last October, is looking to become just the second male in program history to earn a third all-conference honor on Saturday. 
•    Erin Sullivan '94 was a four-time all-league honoree when the Beavers were a member of the Constitution Athletic Conference (CAC) from 1990-97. 

UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
•    Only Dynan's time of 25:55 at the 2016 NEWMAC Championship ranks among Babson's top 70 times in program history in the 8k. 
•    This year's women's championship marks the first time it will be run as a 6k at Smith. Marina Capalbo '15 recorded the Beavers' top 5k time (19:01) at the 2014 conference meet. 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
•    No. 3 MIT, the reigning Division III national champions, has won every NEWMAC men's cross country title going back to 1998 and are once again heavy favorites to repeat. 
•    The Engineers are one of three NEWMAC programs to appear in the latest USTFCCCA East Region rankings along with WPI (5th) and Babson (9th). 
•    The MIT women, who are ranked seventh nationally, have won 14 straight conference titles going back to 2007.
•    MIT and WPI, which is ranked in the latest national poll, are the top two teams in the East region rankings, while Wellesley (7th, East), Coast Guard (7th, Mideast) and Smith (8th, Mideast) are among the top squads in their respective regions. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers will travel to Hopkinton, N.H., to compete in the NCAA East Regional Championships at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds on November 11.