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Varsity Teams and Alums Enjoy First Race Back
September 4, 2021
Almost exactly as the previous Alumni/ae meet in 2019, the varsity and alumni runners raced in 75 degree, sunny weather, with low humidity, about as comfortable as one can expect in early September. After missing formal in-person competition since March of 2020, it was really nice to see the faces of the alums. The varsity members enjoyed the time with some of their recent teammates.
Due to a recent alum's wedding on the same day as the meet, there was an understandable low turnout by the "has-Beens". To accommodate the alums, scoring as a team only needed three finishers, and age-graded tables were used to aid the older guys. In both races, the varsity defeated the alums 6 to 21, sweeping the first three places.
Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, the site of the Alumni/ae race since 2018, has been under construction, which dictated creating a new course. The old course was a hilly 2.76 miles. The new course added a loop on the hillier side of the park and dropped a loop on the shorter, flatter side, making a much more difficult, and longer course, falling a few meters short of 5K.
The men raced first, with the varsity wasting no time in taking control of the pace. This new course started with a very short flat section and then headed up the steepest hill on the course. At the mile mark, Sanjay Raman '23 was leading in what was obviously much too fast a pace, leading a very talented squad by two seconds. The alumni, represented by Aidan Gilson '19, Josh Feldman '97, and Bob Zak '86, were not too close to the leaders, but were more than challenging themselves on the very difficult course.
At the two mile mark, Sam Acquaviva '23 had a very narrow lead over Jacob Hansen '24. Andrew Mah '23 had closed the gap to three seconds, with Sam Coutts '25 and Vedang Lad '23 two seconds back of him.
Coming into the finish, Acquaviva expanded his lead, winning in 16:11, six seconds ahead of Coutts in 16:17. Lad moved up to third in 16:21 and Matthew Kearney '22 came from way back to place fourth in 16:23. Hansen faded a bit to fifth, running 16:31. Mah faded as well to 16:34 as Tech's sixth man.
Feldman was the first alumni finisher, earning an age corrected time of 19:15. Zak was next at an age corrected 21:00. Gilson, currently in medical school, was too young for any age correction, but ran 21:51.
The women started more conservatively than the men, but not by much. Izzi Gengaro '22 took the lead at the start and never saw another runner, winning in 19:30. Similarly, Gillian Roeder '24, moved into second place within the first mile and was never challenged, finishing in 19:56.
The real race was for the next four or five spots. At the mile mark, Anna Haddad '23 was in third, five seconds behind Roeder. Olivia Stoner '25 was in fourth and Marina Ten Have '25 and Einat Gavish '22 were together in fifth and sixth, all within four seconds of Haddad.
The second mile saw a few changes as Stoner moved into third, but :15 behind Roeder. Anna Chau '23 came from nowhere to within two seconds of Stoner. Ten Have was catching Haddad and had created a gap from Gavish.
In the final mile, Chau passed Stoner to finish third and fourth respectively. Haddad remained in fifth and Ten Have stayed ahead of Gavish. Runners three through seven were within :19, showing nice depth.
Representing the alumnae were Megan McCandless '20, Marissa McPhillips '21 and half-miler Bailey Tregoning '20, dipping her toes in the cross country pool for the first time. McCandless finished in 22:24 with McPhillips in 23:37 and Tregoning in 24:48.
In attendance (apologies for those forgotten or not seen), cheering on their alumni teammates were David Westenberg '79, Jack Martin '80, Dev Sinha '93, Eric Khatchadourian '06, Kali Benavides '15, Cody Bratten '18, Jon Fakkema '19, Camila Thanos '19, Brian Bates '20, Skylar Brooks '20, Katie Williams '21 and Katie Collins '21.
The Engineers will now get down to some serious training in preparation for the season. Pre-season rankings mean very little, but the women, who have finished among the top sevin in the country at the NCAA Division III Championship for the past 11 years, are ranked sixth, with the men also being ranked sixth. Their next meet will be September 25th at Williams College for the Purple Valley Invitational.
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