Both cross country teams competed in Franklin Park at the Open New England Championships this past Saturday, Oct. 10 in perfect weather for a cross country meet, sunny and in the mid-60s.
The varsity men’s team finished 12th out of 38 Division I and Division III teams with a score of 343 points and the JV team finished 12th out of 20. The top seven finishers for the men were Sebastian Matt ’16 (26), Ascencion Aispuro ’18 (46), Ethan Realander ’19 (64), Sam Klockenkemper ’17 (102), Connor Evans ’19 (117), Sam Cartwright ’16 (133) and Miles Meijer ’19 (150). They competed against a total of 251 runners.
Matt was happy with his team’s performance but is wary of future challenges.
“It was a solid day, some people really stepped up, but we’re really going to need to click to beat the competition,” Matt said. “It’s a really fast year for the NESCAC, but we can definitely compete. We have the quality and the depth to race with the best.”
Aispuro feels similarly.
“The last thing we want is to be content,” he said. “‘How good can we get?’ is the real question, and I don’t plan on settling, just as I won’t settle with finishing behind a Division I competitor. This is the second big meet we attended with Division I names. We need to go in there thinking that no matter how big the competition, we’ll still take them on, no holds barred.”
As for the women, the varsity team finished tenth out of 39 teams with a total of 293 points and the JV team finished seventh out of 28 teams. The top seven finishers for varsity were Abigail Nadler ’19 (5), Adrian Walsh ’16 (64), Erzsie Nagy ’17 (68), Robin Vincent ’18 (71), Katherine MacCary ’19 (85), Emma DeCamp ’17 (163) and Sasha Whittle ’17 (169).
Nadler continues to finish with the top competition at these big meets. Her fifth place finish was the fastest among DIII runners, losing to only three Boston College and one Northeastern runner, and proving enough to garner All-New England Honors.
“The first mile a lot of the team, including myself, got stuck behind other runners, but after it began to open up I just began picking people off and moving up,” Nadler said. “Our team is super strong, and in a few weeks we’ll be ready to show that at NESCACS.”
A little bit smaller than last week’s varsity meet, Open New England’s still provided a great opportunity to anticipate the bigger meets of the post season that is swiftly approaching.
“We’re closing the gap on some of the top teams in the region right now,” Assistant Coach Jordan Schilit said. “We have some work to do, but we’re happy with how we’re peaking thus far. [It] should be an exciting post-season. The team is looking forward to the championship season this November, it’s all a function of everyone staying healthy, and our varsity all running well on the same day. If that happens, we’re going to have a very strong November.”
On Saturday, Oct. 17, the team goes on to compete at the UAlbany Invitational for the last regular season meet of the year.
