October 28, 2000

MIT, the host of the 3rd annual NEWMAC Cross Country Championship, defended their title as Men's Champion for the second consecutive year with 32 points, making MIT the only team to ever win the championship. The Coast Guard Academy, running a strong race, finished second with 52 points.

The course at Franklin Park was in very good shape and quite fast, but the 30+ mph winds and sub 50 degree temperatures made the day a little less than comfortable. These conditions did not deter Dan Feldman and Sean Nolan of MIT. After sitting back a little during the first mile, the duo opened up a 30 meter lead within the next half mile, and never looked back.

Mark Akus and Ian Bartonicek of Coast Guard trailed Nolan by :19 and :33 seconds respectively, but nevertheless, finished 3rd and 4th. Ten seconds back, Ben Schluckebier of Coast Guard finished in 7th place, putting their 3rd runner in front of MIT's. Whatever thoughts of MIT losing the meet, ended :06 later, as Sean Montgomery, finding the racing form that has eluded him since last year's Nationals, finished 8th overall. Following closely behind in 10th and 11th were Albert Liu and Liyan Guo, both running season bests with times of 26:08 and 26:10 respectively. Coast Guard's final two scorers finished in 17th and 21st place to secure the second place team finish. Springfield College had all five of their scorers in within the first 15 places, with a :45 delta of separation, but their first finisher was back in 6th place.

Both Springfield and Coast Guard were out quickly on the basically flat course, coming through the first mile in 4:56. Even though Feldman and Nolan were out front at two miles, both Springfield and Coast Guard had five runners in front of MIT's 3rd runner. Running as a group, Montgomery, Liu and Guo were intent on catching the opposing runners, but were also patient, knowing how difficult the 2nd, and 4th miles were. By mile three, MIT had taken the lead. The final two miles, MIT runners continued to catch and pass their opponents, placing 10 runners in the top 33. MIT achieved this without the services of #3 runner, Ed Keehr, who was sitting out the race with a tight hamstring.

Next week, the Engineers will not race as they regroup for the National Qualifier on November 11th, which will be held at UMass Dartmouth. Tech hopes to have the troops healthy and ready to make another trip to the National Championship to be held in Spokane.