X-Country Champs for 7th Year

TEAM MEMBER

The MIT Men’s Cross Country Team won the NEWMAC Cross Country Championship, held at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Connecticut on October 30th. Throughout the seven year history of the NEWMAC Conference, the Engineers have been the only winners of the meet.

The Engineers entered the race with a single goal: defeat the host Bears from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and win their seventh straight conference championship.

Last year’s individual winner, Stan Pyle from Wheaton, went to the front at the starting gun and appeared to try to run away with the championship race. MIT’s lead runner, Ben A. Schmeckpeper ’05, let Pyle dictate the early pace and ran immediately behind the Wheaton senior through a first mile in 4:48, opening up a fourteen second gap over the rest of the field.

Behind Schmeckpeper and Pyle, John A. Brewer ’05 trailed Mike Flint from the Coast Guard and was anxious to strike. The rest of MIT’s top runners trailed Brewer by a few seconds, following a conservative pace to a 5:10 opening mile.

Over the course of the second mile Schmeckpeper moved to Pyles’ shoulder. As the top two continued to run away from the field, Eric A. Khatchadourian ’06 worked his way up to run with Brewer and the duo attempted to pass and run away from Flint. Behind them, MIT’s main pack of Carlos A. Renjifo G, Fivos G. Constantinou ’06 and Kevin F. Brulois ’07 began making their way through the field. MIT was poised to run away with the championship.

By the three mile mark Schmeckpeper had taken the lead and opened a sizable gap over Pyle but Brewer and Khatchadourian were struggling to put away Flint. The Coast Guard runner had hung tough despite being passed by both MIT runners simultaneously and now held a slight lead over the duo. However, Renjifo, Constantinou, and Brulois had closed on their teammates and, supported by Chris M. Bruce ’08, Ian H. Driver ’05 and Kevin J. DiGenova ’07, sewed up the championship at the three mile mark. The final two miles became essentially academic, the only remaining question being in what order the Engineers would finish.

Schmeckpeper continued to build his lead over the final two miles, covering the largely flat, five mile course in 25:07 and winning by 47 seconds over Pyle, who held on for second. Flint was able to hang on for a third place finish.

Before the four mile mark, Brulois lead Renjifo and Constantinou past a fading Khatchadourian and Brewer. Renjifo closed strongest over the fifth mile to lead the MIT pack, but was unable to close the gap on Flint, finishing five seconds behind in 26:24. In the fifteen seconds after Renjifo finished, another four Engineers would cross the finish line.

Constantinou managed to overtake Brulois for fifth place, running 26:27 slightly ahead of Brulois’s 26:30. Khatchadourian was seventh in 26:35 and Brewer finished as MIT’s sixth man in 26:39. Behind that pack Bruce finished in twelfth place and garnered the Freshman of the Year awards the fourth consecutive year that an MIT frosh has won that honor. Rounding out the All Conference award winners was Driver, completing his final collegiate cross country race in 27:10, good for fourteenth place.

The clear strength of MIT’s effort was solid group running by Renjifo, Constantinou and Brulois, with early assistance from Bruce and Driver as well. Their conservative start allowed them to continually move up throughout the race and close strongly over the flat course. In two weeks, MIT’s top seven runners will compete at NCAA Regionals, attempting to finish amongst the top four teams and garner a berth at NCAA Nationals the following weekend. The teamwork and group running demonstrated by MIT’s main pack this past Saturday will be the key to success in that meet.