WATERFORD, Conn.— Sophomore Nick Yacoub (Sharon, Mass.) was one of several veterans who registered their career best times as the Babson College men's cross country team placed 18th out of 34 squads in the Connecticut College Invitational Blue race at Harkness Park on Saturday morning. 

Babson recorded a team score of 543 in the meet, which included six of the top 10 and 11 of the top 30 teams from the latest Division III national coaches' poll. The Beavers finished behind St. Lawrence (524) and just ahead of Misericordia (565) and Vassar (574). No. 3 Johns Hopkins (96) won the team title ahead of runner-up No. 9 Tufts (111), with No. 7 SUNY Geneseo (118), No. 4 NYU (122), No. 8 Willams (132) and No. 23 MIT (144) rounding out the top six.

Yacoub crossed the finish line with a career-best time of 24:56, bettering his 25:29 set at the Division III Pre-Nationals last year in Terre Haute, Ind. Sophomore Brian Ronayne (Reading, Mass.) placed 113th in a PR time of 25:46, nearly a minute faster than his 26:40 at the 2024 UMass Dartmouth meet. First-year Oliver Jones (Whanganui, New Zealand) was 129th in 26:01, classmate Arthur Boulot (Geneva, Switzerland) finished 136th in 26:07, and junior John Hanscom (Hadley, Mass.) rounded out the Beaver scorers in 141st place in a PR time of 26:10.

Sophomore Daniel Garcia (Miami, Fla.) came in 192nd place in a PR time of 26:50; first-year Connor Andrews (Wrightsville Beach, N.C.) finished 197th in 26:55; and Brian Gall (Norwalk, Conn.) was 222nd in a PR 27:16.

Juniors Ethan Jina (Carlisle, Mass.), Almond Nickerson IV (Darien, Conn.) and Jack Gramer (Tyngsborough, Mass.) ran in the White race for the Beavers; Jina finished 96th in a time of 27:00, Nickerson was 269th in 29:00, and Gramer was 300th in 29:46.

Babson will return to action on Saturday, November 1, when it competes in the NEWMAC Championship at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass.