WELLESLEY, Mass.—Graduate student Anthony Rodriguez (Prairie View, Ill.) recorded the highest individual finish in program history and the Babson College men's cross country squad posted its lowest point total ever on the way to placing third at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship meet on Saturday at Nehoiden Golf Club. 

The Beavers finished with 73 points, which was 16 points lower than their previous best back in 2023, to come in behind No. 12 MIT (25 points) and second-place WPI (62 points). Coast Guard Academy came in fourth with 106 points, while Springfield College took fifth with 129 points. 

Rodriguez became the first Babson harrier in the NEWMAC era and just the second in program history to garner four straight all-conference honors by finishing second to Sam Coutts of MIT with a time of 24:42 on the 8k course. Senior Julian Ivarra (Plano, Texas) was three spots behind him in fifth place with a time of 25:06, while first-year Nick Yacoub (Sharon, Mass.) crossed the finish with a time of 25:38 to finish in 13th position. 

Graduate student Ryan Wilson (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) and sophomores Jonathan Hanscom (Hadley, Mass.) and Brian Gall (Norwalk, Conn.) were separated by just over a second. Wilson registered a time of 26:58 to come in 40th, while Hanscom (41st) and Gall (42nd) both clocked in at 26:59. 

Graduate student Matthew Campbell (South Easton, Mass.) finished 47th with a time of 27:09, while first-year Sam Zabbo (Warwick, R.I.) crossed the finish line with a time of 27:28 that was good for 58th place. Sophomore Almond Nickerson IV (Darien, Conn.) came in 63rd overall with a time of 27:43. 

Babson returns to action on November 16 when it travels to Hopkinton, N.H., for the NCAA East Regional Championship. 

MEET NOTES
•    The Beavers have posted four consecutive third-places finishes while recording their four lowest team scores in the NEWMAC era. 
•    Rodriguez has improved his finish every season at the league meet, going from ninth in 2021 to seventh in 2022 and to third last season before Saturday's runner-up result. 
•    Nehoiden Golf Club has hosted the NEWMAC Championship three times (2022, 2021, 2024) and Babson has placed third each time. 
•    Rodriguez joins Eric Sullivan '94, who earned All-CAC honors from 1990-93, as the only four-time all-league performers in school history.