Williamstown, Mass.-- Ephs past and present flocked to Williamstown this afternoon to cheer for the Williams Men's Cross Country Team as they took on the hills of the Purple Valley Classic Invitational. The Ephs clinched second place overall, scoring 34 points in total. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute finished in first with a score of 22, and the University of Hartford took third (102).
Team captain
Chuckie Namiot '25 was yet again the individual winner of the day, continuing his streak from last week's Little Three Championship. "My plan was just to relax through the first 5K and then really start racing after making it up the big hill the third time," Namiot explained. "I let an RPI runner get ahead of me in the middle, but was able to reel him in by the end. Overall, I'm happy with how I executed my race." Fending off Jack Loughery of RPI during the final woods loop, Namiot crossed the line with a winning time of 26:53 to Loughery's 26:55.
The Ephs' characteristic pack running was on full display during today's meet.
Luke Zanuck '26 and
Eli Welch '28 worked together over the course of the eight kilometer race, crossing the line in 27:11 and 27:12, respectively. Junior
Ryan Hardiman '26 was close behind, finishing in 27:17. Then, finishing in a blaze of purple and gold cow print,
Malcolm Oakes '28,
Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos '25, and
Rick Yanashita '26 crossed the line in quick succession (27:18, 27:18, and 27:19). Sophomore
Henry Alexander '27 was the next Eph to finish, racing to a time of 27:46. First years
Emil Nelson '28 and
Keiyu Mamiya '28 rounded out the team's top ten, working together over the course of their first eight-kilometer race to finish in 28:24 and 28:25, respectively.
Today's race was the first full 8K of the season; for the first years, it was the first 8K race of their collegiate careers. "Getting used to the long race distance was a very important part of our team mindset today," Namiot emphasized. "We were focused on feeling good at the 5K mark so that we could be aggressive in the last 3K and actually race instead of fading into the finish. A lot of people did well moving up during the back half of the race, which was exactly what we were going for."
Eph head coach
Dusty Lopez '01 echoed Namiot's sentiments, seeing today's race as a point of growth for the team moving forward in the season. "Though there was a lot going on that didn't play in our favor, and RPI is a strong team we executed a better race than we did at Little Threes. We're counting on things rounding into form as we go, and we're not losing sight of our abilities and will find our feet as the season continues."
The next time the Ephs race will be next Friday, September 28th. They will compete against RPI in Troy, N.Y.
Complete Purple Valley results linked here:
https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/24793/Purple_Valley_XC_Invite
