WATERFORD, CONN. – Junior Yichen Sun and sophomore Renne Cooper helped the No. 23 MIT men's cross country team to a sixth place finish in the Men's 8k Blue Championship Race on Saturday at the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Park.
MIT first year Dylan Fiegener added a runner-up performance in the Men's 8k White Open Race to help the Engineers take fourth in the day's opening race.
THE BASICS:
- Men's 8k Blue Championship Race
- Winning Team Score: Johns Hopkins, 96 points
- MIT Team Score: 6th place, 144 points
- Top Finisher: Emmanuel Leblond, Johns Hopkins (23:41.94)
- Top MIT Finisher: Yichen Sun, 11th (24:21.02)
- Men's 8k White Open Race
- Winning Team Score: Tufts, 65 points
- MIT Team Score: 4th place, 91 points
- Top Finisher: Emil Nelson, Williams (25:05.62)
- Top MIT Finisher: Dylan Fiegener, 2nd (25:06.55)
HOW IT HAPPENED - Men's 8k Blue Championship Race
- Sun and Cooper finished with nearly identical times to lead MIT. Sun took 11th in 24:21.02, with Cooper in at 24:21.13 to finish 12th.
- Senior Tim Neumann finished in 24:30.13 to earn a 20th place finish, while Landon Hering continued his strong sophomore campaign by earning a 41st place finish in 24:51.47.
- Junior Charlie Black was the final scoring runner for the Engineers in 61st place with a time of 25:05.81.
- Sophomore Owen Sondag added a 69th place finish in 25:10.61 and junior Nate Martinez completed MIT's top seven in 75th place (25:12.79).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- The packed field included 264 runners and 12 ranked teams, with each of the top ten teams in the standings currently appearing in the USTFCCCA National Poll.
- Emmanuel LeBlond (Johns Hopkins) broke the meet record previously held by Elias Lindgren (Williams) by one second.
- Sun, a two-time NEWMAC Athlete of the Week, has been the top finisher for MIT in all three of MIT's appearances this season.
- Cooper made a big move from the 1.65K mark, jumping up from 56th place in the early going to as high as 8th at the 5.7K mark before taking 12th.
- Neumann was consistent, settling in at 19th in the early going and holding the position throughout the course to finish 20th.
HOW IT HAPPENED - Men's 8k White Open Race
- No. 9 Tufts, No. 4 NYU and No. 8 Williams tied atop the men's leaderboard in the open race, each recording 65 points. Tufts would take the victory thanks to the tiebreaker among each team's top finishers.
- MIT posted the next lowest team score, paced by Fiegener's runner-up time, as the rookie finished in 25:06.55.
- Sophomore Luke Rupert and first year Michael Eischen also finished in the top-ten for the Engineers. Rupert posted a time of 25:25.91 and Eischen was across the line in 25:29.11.
- First year Achilles Shui and junior David Whitaker completed the MIT team score, finishing just seconds apart in 38th and 39th place, respectively. Shui's time was 26:09.61 and Whitaker finished in 26:10.42.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
UP NEXT:
STAY CONNECTED:
