Cross Country at the Connecticut College Invitational
Saturday, October 18 | 10 a.m. 
Harkness Park | Waterford, Conn. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson men's and women's cross country teams will compete against some of the top programs in the country on Saturday morning at Harkness Park in Waterford, Conn.
•    The Babson women are set to compete in the 6k White race at 11 a.m., while the men's squad will take part in both the 8k White race at 10 a.m. and the 8k Blue Championship meet at 12 p.m. 
•    The Beavers will be competing in the Connecticut College Invitational for the fourth season in a row and the 15th time going back to 1990. 

2024 CONNECTICUT COLLEGE INVITATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
•    Anthony Rodriguez '24 M'25 broke his own program record with a time of 24:11 to finish as the runner-up among 269 competitors in the 8k Blue race at Harkness Park on October 19, 2024. 
•    Julian Ivarra '25 placed 57th in a time of 25:20 and junior Almond Nickerson IV came in 149th with a career-best time of 26:40 to help the Babson men finish 16th out of 36 squads in a race that featured seven nationally-ranked squads. 
•    Sophomore Shriya Peddi recorded the Beavers' top 6k time since 2019 (23:09) to place 21st overall, while Ali Thomas '25 came in 51st with a career-best time of 23:52 to help the women finish eighth out of 36 teams in the 6k White race. 

ABOUT THE BABSON WOMEN
•    The Beavers are coming off a third-place finish at the 5k Hopkinton XC Festival last Friday. 
•    Babson's top five finishers were separated by just 24 seconds, led by senior Chloe Clifford's 13th-place showing in a time of 20:27. 
•    Junior Taijah Harvey recorded the top 5k time of her career (20:49) to place 17th, senior Alexandra Kirkpatrick (20:49) and first-year Ali Meyers (20:50) finished 18th and 19th, respectively, and fellow rookie Sophia Nakakura finished 21st with a time of 20:51. 
•    Harvey (25:06) and sophomore Sophia Draxler (23:56) both recorded the top 6k times of their career back at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on September 20. 

ABOUT THE BABSON MEN
•    The Beavers enter Saturday's race coming off a first-place finish at the 8k Hopkinton XC Festival last Friday. 
•    Sophomore Nick Yacoub came in fourth overall and first among Division III harriers with a time of 25:35, first-year Oliver Jones placed nineth with a season-best time of 25:56 and junior Brian Gall finished 12th with a career-best time of 25:58 as the Green and White recorded seven of the top 31 times. 
•    Junior John Hanscom (14th) posted a time of 25:59, first-year Arthur Boulot recorded a season-best time of 26:14 and sophomore Daniel Garcia crossed the finish line with the fastest time of his career (26:43) on the Hopkinton Fairgrounds course. 
•    Yacoub (25:16) and Jones (25:58) own Babson's top average 8k times through two races, while sophomore Brian Ronayne registered a career-best time of 26:01 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational back on September 20. 

YACOUB EARNS NEWMAC WEEKLY HONOR
•    After finishing 21 seconds ahead of closest Division III competitor last Friday at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds, Yacoub was selected as the NEWMAC Runner of the Week on Tuesday. 
•    His time ranks fourth in program history at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds and was the second fastest by a Babson runner this fall. 

RISING IN THE REGIONAL POLL
•    Coming off of their first-place finish last week at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds, the Babson men moved up to No. 5 in the USTFCCCA East Region rankings. 
•    The Beavers ended the 2024 campaign ranked sixth in the region and were seventh in this year's preseason poll before moving up to sixth on September 23. 

FAST TIMES AT HARKNESS PARK
•    Four of the top 22 women's 6k times in program history have been posted at Harkness Park, highlighted by Peddi running the 11th-best time in school history at last year's Connecticut College Invitational. 
•    Claudia Schulz '08 recorded a time of 23:26 on November 10, 2007, that ranks 18th in school history, Stephanie Rodriguez's '20 time of 23:39 ranks 21st and Chaela Hood '19 crossed the finish line in 23:40 back in 2015, which is good for 22nd all-time. 
•    Anthony Rodriguez recorded three of his fastest times in school history at Harkness Park over the last three seasons, while Nickerson and junior Jack Gramer both posted career-best times at last year's Connecticut College Invitational. 

ABOUT THE COMPETITION
•    The men's 8k Blue Championship race features 12 nationally-ranked teams including six of the top 10 squads (No. 3 Johns Hopkins, No. 4 NYU, No. 7 Geneseo, No. 8 Williams, No. 9 Tufts and No. 10 Claremont-Mudd Scripps) in the most recent USTFCCCA poll.

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers will travel to Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass., for the NEWMAC Championships on Saturday, November 1.