This past Saturday, the MIT Men's Cross Country Team competed in the New England Division III Championship / NCAA Division III National Qualifier at Westfield State. The weather was wet, muddy, and in many ways perfect for Cross Country. The team finished 7th out of 38 schools.

The Engineers got out well at the start (top 40) and looked in control at the first mile, coming through in 5:01 and 5:02. At mile two, Mike Parkins '99 had opened up a lead on the rest of the Engineers by 9 seconds. It was apparent that Mike was trying to move up in the top group, but having missed about 70% of the work in practice due to an injury, he was having to work too hard to accomplish this task.

The plan for the team had been to get out at the start (top 40) and gradually move up as a group of 6 until 2.25 miles. At that point Arnold Seto 'G, if feeling capable was going to take advantage of his downhill running skills and make a move to the front. The others were to stay together until 3 miles, and then if they felt good and communicated well, they could move ahead of the group. Well, things were going well up to mile 2, but after that the group separated.

At mile 3, Parkins' 9 second gap on the next 5 MIT runners became gaps of 9, 11, 15, 18, and 23 seconds. By four miles it was apparent that Williams and Tufts had the two spots for Nationals sewed up. It seemed to be a very close battle for 3rd through 8th place.

MIT did not move up in the last mile, and in fact lost some ground. Because Tech maintained their 23 second gap for the top 5, and placed Mike Parkins in 28th, Arnold Seto in 32nd, Dan Helgesen '97 in 40th, Josh Feldman '97 in 43rd, and Chris McGuire in 45th, it appeared that the team would place in the top 5.

Too many teams had individuals in the top 10. Even though their teams were not so well packed, they scored lower than MIT. The difference between 3rd through 7th was only 46 points.

The hope is that the region will do well at Nationals and earn a 3rd team for Nationals next year. Even so, the region is so strong right now that a team could be ranked well in the top 20 and still not be one of the top 3 teams, thus staying home.