Keene, N.H.-- The Williams College Men's Cross Country team emerged victorious from today's Keene State Invitational. Amidst a field of almost 250 competitors, the men swept the first nine places overall, winning the meet with a perfect score of 15 points. Eastern Connecticut State University placed second with a score of 152, and Plymouth State College took third (156).
Leading the team to victory was senior captain
Chuckie Namiot '25. Namiot attacked the start, putting himself in contention for the lead before the pack left the starting field. As the race progressed, Namiot only extended his distance from the rest of the competition, sprinting through the line in a time of 24:25 to take first place overall. Next to finish for the Ephs were
Luke Zanuck '26 and
Ryan Hardiman '26. Zanuck and Hardiman worked together over the course of the eight kilometer distance, putting Williams' characteristic pack running mentality on display as they crossed the line in 24:47.9 and 24:48.0, respectively.
Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos '25 kept his teammates in sight throughout the race, finishing close behind in a time of 24:57. Crossing the line in a time of 25:02 was
Rick Yanashita '26. Yanashita finished fifth for the Ephs and fifth overall, cementing the team's perfect score. First-years
Alex Kemp '28 and
Eli Welch '28 were next to finish, racing to sixth (25:08) and seventh place (25:09), respectively.
Henry Alexander '27 moved up as the race progressed, taking eighth place overall in a time of 25:14. Close behind was
Avery Allen '27, crossing the line in a time of 25:20 (9th) in his first race of the 2024 cross country season.
Excitement within the team was high leading up to the race "We knew that the competition wouldn't be as strong as other meets,"
Rick Yanashita '26 explained, "but we still wanted to go out there and make a statement. Everyone has been working hard at practice over the past few weeks, and our goal was to take that effort and show it off in the race."
Eph head coach
Dusty Lopez '01 echoed Yanashita's sentiments. "I was very happy with how the team stuck to the plan," Coach Lopez enthused. "We adjusted our tactics a bit in preparation for post-season, and approached the race quite differently than we have thus far. It would've been easy for the team to be intimidated by that, but they handled the change extremely well. The field wasn't quite as strong as we had hoped for competitive purposes, but it did give us practice getting off the line in a crowded situation." Coach Lopez summarized, "I was proud to see a big pack of Williams folks in the top 25 places, and I'm excited for the next steps."
The next time the Ephs toe the line will be at Plymouth State University in the Open New England Invitational next Saturday, October 12th.
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