BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Junior Yichen Sun was one of five MIT men's cross country runners to finish in the top 100 in the Men's College White 8K race, as the No. 19 ranked Engineers secured a seventh place finish at the 51st annual Paul Short Run, presented by ASICS, on Lehigh University's Goodman Campus on Friday morning.
The Paul Short Run is in honor of the late Paul Short who served as Lehigh's Business Manager and Assistant Director of Athletics for 29 years. Six high school races were run on Thursday, while eight college races took place Friday to mark the two-day event. MIT also ran in the Open Men's 8K on Friday, where junior Charlie Black was MIT's top finisher in 110th place.
THE BASICS:
- Men's College White 8K
- Winning Team Score: NYU, 54 points
- MIT Team Score: 277 points, 7th
- Top Finisher: Will Shuflit, Colorado College (24:04.9)
- Top MIT Finisher: Yichen Sun, 19th (24:53.3)
- Open Men's 8K
- No Team Score
- Top Finisher: Jackson Shorten, Princeton (23:59.4)
- Top MIT Finisher: Charlie Black, 110th (25:32.9)
HOW IT HAPPENED - Men's College White 8K
- No. 13 NYU had three runners finish in the top 10, as the Violets finished 47 points ahead of No. 25 Amherst in second place to win the race.
- Sun crossed the finished just ahead of the final NYU scoring runner, earning a spot in the top 20 in 24:53.3. Senior Tim Neumann was the second MIT finisher to the line, taking 34th in 25:08.9.
- Sun was near the front through the first mile but moved to 17th at the two-mile mark and held the position through the finish. Neumann moved from 29th through the first mile up to 18th at the two-mile mark, running with Sun before ultimately finishing in 34th.
- MIT's sophomore class took control of the final three scoring spots for the Engineers. Landon Hering was just seconds back of Neumann, snagging 38th in 25:11.5. Owen Sondag added an 88th place finish in 25:39.9 and Renne Cooper earned the last spot inside the top 100, taking 99th in 25:45.5.
- Nate Martinez in 110th (25:51.3) and Jake Cobb in 127th (25:58.0) completed the top seven for MIT.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- The loaded field included 407 finishers and multiple nationally-ranked teams, as MIT finished just behind No. 22 Lynchburg and No. 30 Lebanon Valley but ahead of No. 29 Loras and No. 21 Wesleyan (CT).
- Sun has been MIT's top finisher in each of the team's first two races this season.
- Sondag jumped into MIT's top-five after finishing tenth among MIT runners at the Cardinal Invitational.
HOW IT HAPPENED - Men's Open 8K
- Black was MIT's top runner in the Open 8K, finishing in 25:32.9. First years Michael Eischen and Achilles Shui followed in 147th (25:49.4) and 196th (26:09.5), respectively.
- Adarsh Iyer, 227th in 26:20.3, and Gael Medina, 249th in 26:30.4, followed to complete the top five times for the Engineers. David Whitaker's 255th place (26:32.9) finish and Charlie Glass in 400th (27:46.6) rounded out the top seven for MIT.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Black was making his season debut for MIT, his last start was a 26th place finish at the 2024 NEWMAC Championships.
- The Men's Open 8K featured a massive field, with 575 finishing the course.
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