Ducking under ropes and weaving between team tents, we cheered. The herd of runners stormed by, and frenzied fans cut across to the next sector of the race, only to barely catch sight of the stampede before sprinting along a new shortcut for another close-up glimpse. Amid warlike chaos, loyal Middlebury students, alumni, parents and dogs rallied behind the men’s and women’s cross country teams on Sat. Nov. 1 as they competed at the NESCAC Championship.
This year’s meet was hosted by Connecticut College, taking place at the Harkness Memorial State Park. Their course is notoriously quick, featuring long, flat straightaways of trampled grass and hardly any elevation gain. As Zach Utz ’26 explained, the only true challenges of the course are its exposure to high winds, a stretch of deeper sand and the occasional gravel patch along the racing line.
“Other than that it’s a great course. There’s a reason so many teams come here for their invitational,” Utz said. The annual invitational meet took place two weeks prior on the same course, this year drawing distant schools such as St. Olaf and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Saturday’s NESCAC Championship opened with the men’s 8k. After a more conservative start to the race, the Panthers sat in seventh overall by the two-mile mark. The need for a mid-race push became urgent, yet any significant moves proved challenging in Saturday’s conditions.
“On the second lap you flip directions and start going into the wind … that flip into the wind with three miles to go was pretty brutal,” Owen Johnson ’26 said.
Benjamin Hughes ’27 agreed. “Today obviously with the 20, 30 mile an hour gusts of wind, you definitely had to think about being in the peloton,” he said.
Regardless, the Panthers were able to fight the gusts and gradually work up the field. Johnson continually climbed throughout the race, passing 27 runners between the first mile split and the finish. Cam Miles ’28 passed 12 competitors in the final mile and a half alone, and consistent moves from Nathan Szubin ’29 and captain Harry Griff ’26 helped bring the Panthers’ top seven towards the front. Individually, Middlebury’s scorers were Hughes (12th), Johnson (21st), Ethan Sholk ’29 (32nd), Miles (33rd), and Utz (40th). Together, they secured the Panthers’ team finish of fifth.
Although the team had hoped to beat Wesleyan, who finished in fourth, they could still be content with the result. The NESCAC is highly competitive this year, with #22 Middlebury being one of five teams nationally ranked in the top 25.
“We came in right where we’re ranked and you can never be disappointed with that, but we’re definitely still hungry for regionals,” Johnson said.
“I think it was a solid day but we definitely have more to give,” Griff added.
Then, just as the finish line carnage cleared and the men returned to the team tent, the women’s race set off. Surging forward from the gun, the Middlebury women ran a measured opening couple miles. Placed in fourth after the first mile, the Panthers steadily moved up to reach second by the halfway point of the race.
“I went into the race with a plan that I was going to stick with the top pack for the first two miles and then try to pick it up from there,” Audrey MacLean ’27 said.
Over a decisive third mile, Middlebury slashed their team score from 82 to 66 points, creating a substantial gap over a closely-following Connecticut College team. MacLean quickly built a fifteen second lead at the front of the race, while MK Cestaro ’28 charged up the field to pass 27 runners over two and a half miles. Shea Fajen ’28 also made substantial progress throughout the race, and Naomi Atwood ’28 picked off 31 competitors from the first mile to the finish.
MacLean cruised to her second individual NESCAC title, winning by 17 seconds. Claire Palmer ’29 (3rd), Cestaro (16th), Fajen (20th), and Grace Kaelber ’29 (32nd) rounded out the Panthers’ scoring five, all achieving personal bests and helping lift Middlebury to second place as a team.
“We were able to just get out there and send it and we had an amazing day. I’m so proud of every single one of our ladies,” captain Lucca Franz ’26 reflected.
Like the men’s conference, the NESCAC currently has five top-25 women’s cross country teams, including #1 Williams College. Key to Middlebury’s performance against fierce competition was the support along the course, especially from fellow Panther cross country and track & field athletes.
“When I was feeling down in the middle of the race, I saw some track guy with a giant ‘M’ or ‘I’ or ‘D’ written on his chest in blue waving the flag around. That gave me the energy I needed to keep going and crush the race,” captain Victoria Fawcett ’26 said. “They were featured on every single corner.”
Moving forward, the women’s cross country team will continue to lean into a new team philosophy — embracing love rather than fixating on finishing placement or performance.
“We’re gonna keep emphasizing love … love for each other, love for the sport. Enjoying the experience of being present,” Fawcett said.
For the men, they can count on a shift in momentum and increased sharpness as they lower mileage heading into the final weeks of the season.
“Two years ago we had a pretty tough day [at NESCACs], and then turned it around and had the fastest race in Middlebury history two weeks later. I think everybody’s feeling like we can come back and do that again,” Griff said.
The cross country teams return to racing on Nov. 15 at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. It will likely be colder, St. Lawrence University’s course is hillier, and the competition will reach new heights as teams fight for a bid to nationals. Yet the passionate support, a Middlebury flag waving atop a 15-foot pole and inspiring efforts from the Panther cross country runners, are all a guarantee.
Simon Schmieder '26 (he/him) is a Senior Sports Editor.
Simon is an avid runner and biker and enjoys spending time outdoors. He is a philosophy and political science joint major with a minor in German, in addition to being a Philly sports fan.
