Cross Country at the Wheaton Invitational
Saturday, August 31 | 10 a.m. (men) / 10:45 a.m. (women)
Highland Park – Mark Coogan Course | Attleboro, Mass.
WHAT TO KNOW
• The Babson men's and women's cross country squads will begin their season at the Wheaton Invitational for the eighth consecutive season on Saturday morning.
• The Beavers and Lyons, who took part in a dual meet from 2015-19, will compete against seven other programs on Saturday.
• The women will run a 2-mile race while the men will take part in a 5k.
A LOOK BACK AT 2023
• Led by head coach
Russ Brennen, who begins his 21st season in 2024, the Babson men placed third at the NEWMAC Championship for the third year in a row and followed it up with a ninth-place showing at the NCAA East Regional Championship.
• The Babson women came in 11th at the conference meet and finished 20th at the NCAA regionals.
ABOUT THE BABSON WOMEN
• The Beavers return three of their top six runners and five veterans in all from last year's squad.
• Senior
Ali Thomas was Babson's top finisher in three of four 6k races last fall and recorded the top time of her career (24:30) at the NCAA regionals last November.
• Senior
Eujin Shin posted the top time of her career last October at the Connecticut College Invitational, sophomore
Colleen Corman was one of four harriers to compete in all six races, and juniors
Alexandra Kirkpatrick and
Chloe Clifford both look to bounce back from injuries that saw them miss the final two months of the 2023 campaign.
ABOUT THE BABSON MEN
• The Beavers return a pair of all-region performers and all nine runners from their 2023 squad.
• Graduate student
Anthony Rodriguez owns nine of the top 11 8k times in program history, came in a program-best third at last year's NEWMAC Championship and is the only harrier in program history to earn three straight all-conference and all-region honors.
• Senior
Julian Ivarra placed 16th at the conference meet and earned All-East region accolades with a career-best time of 25:35 at the Hopkinton (N.H.) Fairgrounds last November.
• Sophomore
Ethan Jina recorded his top time of the season (26:28) at the NCAA regionals and Babson's roster should be bolstered by the return of graduate students
Ryan Wilson '22 MS'23 and
Matthew Campbell '22.
ABOUT THE FIELD
• In addition to Wheaton, the Beavers will compete against five Division III squads (Brandeis, Bridgewater State, Suffolk, UMass Dartmouth, Wentworth) and a pair of Division I programs in Holy Cross and Stonehill.
• No. 7 Suffolk and No. 9 Brandeis join No. 6 Babson in the USTFCCCA East Region preseason rankings, Bridgewater State came in second in last year's MASCAC Championship and UMass Dartmouth was picked to come in third in the Little East preseason poll.
• On the women's side, Brandeis is coming off a 10th-place result at last year's East Regional championship, Bridgewater State came in second in the MASCAC and UMass Dartmouth finished third at the MASCAC Championship meet.
2023 WHEATON INVITATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
• The Babson men took first place in the 5k while the women's squad recorded a first-place finish in the women's 2-mile race on September 2, 2023, at the Mark Coogan Course in Attleboro, Mass.
• Ivarra, Jina and junior
Max Gregiore all recorded top-10 finishes for the Beavers in the men's 5k race, while Kirkpatrick and junior Avery Butt both posted top-10 results to lead the Babson women to a one-point victory over Wheaton.
REGIONAL SHIFT
• Since the NCAA moved from eight to 10 regions prior to the 2021 season, the Babson men have taken advantage by posting three consecutive top-10 finishes.
• Prior to last year's ninth-place showing, the Beavers finished seventh in both 2021 (241 points) and 2022 (226 points) with two of their lowest point totals in school history.
• The Babson women, who recorded just one top-20 finish at the New England Regional Championships from 1994-2019, came in a program-best 16th in 2022 before placing 20th last fall.
HISTORY LESSON
• For the first time in program history, the Babson men enter the season with three all-region performers on the roster.
• Rodriguez, who is a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier, finished a career-best 15th at last year's East Regional, Ivarra placed 27th last season and Wilson finished in 27th position in 2022.
POLL POSITION
• Coming off of last year's third-place finish at the NEWMAC Championship meet, the Babson men came in third in the league's preseason coaches' poll last week with 48 points behind only MIT (64) and WPI (55).
• The Babson women were picked to finish 10th just behind Salve Regina and ahead of both Clark and Emerson.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers return to action at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on September 21.
