BABSON PARK, Mass.— Babson College first-year Luca Masolo (Portland, Ore.) was named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Year when the conference released its post-season awards on Wednesday morning.

Masolo is the first Babson runner to earn the NEWMAC's top rookie honor and the first to earn a major post-season conference honor for the Green and White since Mike McGuirk '97 was named Rookie of the Year in the Colonial Athletic Conference (CAC) back in 1993.

The first freshman to cross the finish line at the NEWMAC Championship race last Saturday, Masolo earned All-Conference recognition with a ninth-place showing in a season-best time of 25:12. He was one of three Beavers to finish in the top 10, helping the team to a third-place finish with 66 points, the program's lowest total in the NEWMAC era going back to 1998.

Masolo joined juniors Nick Yacoub (Sharon, Mass.) and Brian Ronayne (Reading, Mass.), who finished second and eighth, respectively, on the All-Conference team. They are the first three Babson teammates to earn All-NEWMAC recognition since 2024, and the first trio to finish in the top 10 since doing so in the CAC in 1994.

Babson returns to action on Saturday, November 14, when it travels to South Portland, Maine, for the NCAA East Regionals at the Wainwright Sportsplex.