MIT RACES TO 8TH CONSECUTIVE NEWMAC CHAMPIONSHIP
October 29, 2005
MIT successfully defended their NEWMAC Cross Country title yesterday at the challenging Smith College course in Northampton, MA. Led by senior Eric Khatchadourian the MIT harriers placed 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 to total 25 points to runner-up Coast Guard's 33 points. The two perennial rivals were followed by Springfield with 73, WPI with 140, Clark at 163, Babson close behind at 166 and Wheaton closing out the scoring with 168 points.
The hilly course offers everything a challenging cross country course should offer; change of terrain, sharp turns, quick transition from uphill to downhill and at times, tricky footing. Although the weather called for rain mixed with snow, the runners toed the line with sun mixed with some clouds and the temperature in the low 40s.
Due to the difficulty of the course, the MIT plan was to run a conservative first mile, stay behind Coast Guard, work up to Coast Guard over the next mile and a half and then move hard in the second half of the race. The only problem with this was that the normally aggressive Coast Guard runners had the same plan. MIT proved the more disciplined in this effort although with Coast Guard also running a conservative first mile the plan to move in the latter stages of the race proved less effective.
Khatchadourian, Kevin Brulois '07, Fivos Constantinou '06, Jake Ruzevick '09 and Spencer Dudley '07 trailed the top five Coast Guard runners by a couple of seconds at the mile mark. Springfield College, running a surprisingly aggressive first mile, was in the lead with their entire top seven. By mile two, Mike Flint of Coast Guard had opened up a 13 second lead. Khatchadourian was leading the MIT charge, who were content to run the plan. The other Coast Guard runners could not go with Flint and had strung out a bit, but overall were still leading the race. Springfield now only had three runners in the mix.
By mile four, Khatchadourian had broken away from Brulois by five seconds and had closed the gap to Flint to four seconds. Constantinou and Ruzevick were 10 seconds behind Khatchadourian along with a Coast Guard runner. Another Coastie was right behind them. Dudley had fallen off the pace a bit, :18 behind his teammates with two Coast Guard runners within five seconds of him. The race was in hand but not over.
Working hard over the final mile, Khatchadourian was not quite able to catch Flint, losing by eight seconds in 26:08. Brulois held on for third in 26:21 but Laurel of Coast Guard outkicked Constantinou (26:27) and Ruzevick (26:31) for fourth. Yandell from Coast Guard maintained seventh place and after Hepper from Springfield, Dudley held off the Persun and Newton of Coast Guard in 26:55 to secure the team victory. Just one second behind Newton was freshman Trevor Rundell (26:59), continuing to improve after his mid-season injury. Also joining his teammates on the all-conference squad was Joe Roy-Mayhew '08, in 13th place, just four seconds behind Rundell in 27:03.
In two weeks the Engineers travel to Springfield College for the NCAA Division III Regional Qualifying Meet at Veteran's Golf Course on November 12 at noon. The top three teams and next seven individuals will advance to the NCAA Division III Championship at Ohio Wesleyan University. MIT, ranked 8th in the region, will do well to improve on that mark. Individually, any of MIT's top four could have a big day and advance though it will probably take a finish in the top 15-20 overall to make the trip to Ohio.