NORTHFIELD, Minn./KEENE, N.H. – The No. 21 nationally-ranked MIT men's cross country team showed off its depth on Saturday, earning a seventh-place finish against a loaded field at the Running of the Cows Pre-Nationals 8k Championship race in Northfield, Minnesota, while the other half of the squad took home second at the 8k Keene State Invitational in Keene, New Hampshire. 

• Running of the Cows (Pre-Nationals): 7th of 35 (208 points) 
• Keene State Invitational: 2nd of 31 (58 points) 

• Running of the Cows (Pre-Nationals) 
  • MIT placed five runners in the top 56, led by Renne Cooper's 24th-place finish in 25:03.7. Owen Sondag followed closely in 33rd place with a time of 25:11.4. Luke Rupert was MIT's third scoring runner, placing 43rd in a personal-best 25:15.6. Nate Martinez finished 54th in 25:20.1 and rookie Alex Bland rounded out the scoring five, placing 56th in 25:20.8. 
  • Michael Eischen added a personal best 25:22.1 to finish 59th. Yichen Sun crossed the line in 25:41.4, placing 88th. Landon Hering finished 92nd with a time of 25:44.3 and Sam Hansen recorded a time of 27:41.3, placing 292nd. 
• Keene State Invitational 
  • Dylan Fiegener won the individual title in 24:45.4, leading a group of five scoring runners that all finished inside the top 23 for the Engineers. Colin Aysun was 8th, 25:18.0, while Tage Mehta finished 12th, 25:28.9, and Achilles Shui was 14th, 25:35.2. Aiden Aysun took 23rd in 25:47.5.  
  • Wood Moore, 28th in 25:59.8, Brody Aysun, 47th in 26:26.3 and Chris Chan, 48th in 26:32.3, also finished in the top 50. 

• Running of the Cows (Pre-Nationals) 
  • Saturday's field at the Running of the Cows included 17 ranked teams, including No. 1 Wisconsin – La Crosse. No. 5 Wartburg won the race (110 points), followed by No. 3 Johns Hopkins (123) in second and La Crosse in third (144). 
  • MIT's top six runners all finished within 18.4 seconds of one another (25:03.7 to 25:22.1), demonstrating strong pack running. 
  • Three Engineers finished in the top 50: Renne Cooper (24th), Owen Sondag (33rd), and Luke Rupert (43rd). 
  • MIT was led by a veteran group, with four juniors and one senior comprising the team's top five finishers. 
• Keene State Invitational 
  • Williams finished first, edging MIT with 55 points. Bowdoin was third (91 points). 
  • The victory was the first of Fiegener's cross country career. He was the runner up at the 2025 Connecticut College Invitational. 
  • MIT placed five runners in the top 23 and three runners in the top 15.