THE BASICS:
 
- Location: Williamstown, Mass.
 
- The Lead: In the season-opening Purple Valley Classic, No. 6 MIT men's cross country came up just short to No. 2 ranked Williams College as the Engineers fell to the Ephs by just three points with a total of 32 points to finish second out of 10 teams.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- Junior Matthew Kearney (Austin, Texas) finished second overall in a time of 26:11.9, followed by 2019 NEWMAC Champion Andrew Mah (Newton, Mass.) in third at 26:18.6 and junior Sam Acquaviva (Newburyport, Mass.) in fifth at 26:20.6.
 
- Senior Ryan Wilson (Redwood City, Calif.) rounded out the top 10 with a time of 26:42.8, along with a 12th-place finish by junior Vedang Lad (Plainsboro, N.J.) in 26:50.1 and junior Lowell Hensgen (Raleigh, N.C.) in 14th at 27:00.7. All-American Sanjay Raman (Seattle, Wash.) was the sixth runner for MIT in 17th place with a time of 27:09.7, followed by graduate student Finn Jacobson-Schulte (Lakeville, Minn.) to round out the top seven in 27:10.2.
 
- Graduate student Reid Kovacs (Palo Alto, Calif.) was right behind Jacobson-Schulte in 19th place with an identical time of 27:10.2. Sophomore Cameron Kleiman (Austin, Texas) placed 20th in 27:17.6, along with first-year Pablo Arroyo (Richardson, Texas) in 23rd (27:22.7), sophomore Nate Sesti (Clarkston, Mich.) in 24th (27:24) and first-year Simon Opsahl (Redlands, Calif.) in 25th (27:27.6).
 
- Other finishers included senior Nicholas Medearis (Palo Alto, Calif.) in 41st in 27:46.17, followed by sophomore Jacob Hansen (Bountifal, Utah) in 45th (27:52.5), sophomore Henry Hardart (Annapolis, Md.) in 54th (28:09.8), first-year Sam Coutts (Pacific Grove, Calif.) in 69th (28:40.8), first-year Pau Ilerbaig-Bajona (Toronto, Canada) in 72nd (28:51.7) and first-year Carlos Villa (Gurnee, Ill.) in 79th at 29:02.4.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT returns to action on Saturday, October 2nd as the Engineers travel to Louisville, Ky. for the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic. The course at Tom Sawyer Park will host the NCAA Division III National Championship on November 20th.
 
STAY CONNECTED:
 
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