ATTLEBORO, Mass.—Sophomore Nick Yacoub (Sharon, Mass.) crossed the finish line in ninth place among 159 runners to lead the Babson College men's cross country team to a fourth-place finish at the season-opening Suffolk Short Course Classic on Saturday morning at Highland Park. 

The Beavers totaled 115 points to finish in fourth place overall, including second among the 14 Division III schools and second among the seven New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) teams. Holy Cross (26) won the 17-team event with New Hampshire (52) taking second and WPI (67) rounding out the top three.

Yacoub finished ninth overall and third among Division III runners in the 5K race in a time of 15:55, an identical time to his collegiate debut on the same course last year. Holy Cross had the top three finishers, led by individual winner Liam Lyons in 15:15. Senior Everett Mosher (15:42) and sophomore Drew O'Reilly (15:48) of WPI were the top Division III runners ahead of Yacoub.

First-years Calvin Volkmann (Sullivan's Island, S.C.) and Oliver Jones (Whanganui, New Zealand) turned in strong performances in their collegiate debuts for the Beavers, Volkmann finishing 23rd overall and 10th among Division III runners in a time of 16:24 and Jones coming in 27th overall and 13th in Division III in 16:27.26. Sophomore Brian Ronayne (Reading, Mass.) was a half-second behind Jones in 28th place in 16:27.70.

First-year Arthur Boulot (Geneva, Switzerland) rounded out the top five for the Beavers in his collegiate debut, finishing 35th in 16:37, while junior Brian Gall (Norwalk, Conn.) was just a second behind in 37th place in 16:38. Junior John Hanscom (Hadley, Mass.) came in 44th in 16:43 and first-year Connor Andrews (Wrightsville Beach, N.C.) also finished in the top 50 with a 47th place in 16:55.

Rounding out the finishers for the Green and White were sophomore Daniel Garcia (Miami, Fla.) in 57th place in 17:15, first-year Carter LaSusa (Chester, N.J.) in 73rd in 17:37, and junior Jack Gramer (Tyngsborough, Mass.) in 101st in 18:28.

Babson returns to action at the Annual UMass Dartmouth Invitational in North Dartmouth, Mass. on September 20.