2026 MIT Men's Cross Country Roster
Biography
Before MIT:
- Attended Newark Academy graduated in 2026
- Played soccer for years before becoming a three sport athlete in cross country, winter track, and spring track in 9th grade
- Five time state champion and six time county champion
- NJSIAA Scholar Athlete
- Super Essex Conference Runner of the Year
- Contributed to 2026 outdoor track team state championship as a senior captain (first in school history)
- Broke and holds 13 school records
- 2025 and 2026 indoor captain and outdoor caption
- Indoor track and Outdoor track legacy awards
Personal:
- Born in Libertyville, Illinois
- Has two siblings and a miniature schnauzer (real name is Luna but we usually just say mini)
- Grew up thinking my clothing company would be my gateway into business but ended up finding myself in the basement and machine shops 3d-printing, exploring electronics, and building robots
- Loves outdoors (fly fishing, hiking, metal detecting)
- Treasures food
- Loves engaging in service and teaching
- Always has 30+ browser tabs open and can explain why every one is essential
- Jeff Wang, Uncle, played tennis at the University of Maryland, 1993-1997
- Winnie Polen, mother, played tennis at Georgetown University, 1992-1996
Why MIT?:
- "My dream at MIT involves losing track of time with friends in a Tony Stark-style engineering lab to finish research, forgetting that the next morning brings a long run, a ton of psets, tasks for the Motorsports team, and idea drafting to pitch for the next Sandbox cohort. As weirdly specific as this may seem, I believe this exact moment is achievable by 1) loving the game and 2) growing in an environment that understands business and even rewards it. MIT’s infinite resources, outgoing professors, and strong, welcoming culture around campus all contribute to this environment where any dreams can be built into reality. MIT stood out as a school where all of the effort put into learning and exploring can be paid back in an unparalleled experience working with world class professors and peers to solve world class challenges."
