WATERFORD, Conn. - Sophomore Eli Welch earned the individual NESCAC Championship, winning Saturday's race at a windy Harkness Memorial State Park, as the Williams College men's cross-country team captured a second place team finish.
Welch stayed in a tight group of three runners throughout the 8k race, alongside Jonah Reisner of Tufts, who eventually finished second, and Harrison Dow of Amherst, the third place finisher.Â
"The plan was to stick with the top group, not lead the race because it was super windy and that takes a lot out of you," said Welch after the race.
"I was trading blows with the guys starting around 2k to go. I popped into the lead, Harrison took it back, Jonah took it. But I was able to drop them with 200 [meters] to go at the top of the hill and didn't look back from there."
Sophomore Malcolm Oakes was the second Williams runner across the line in 8th at 24:36, just ahead of seniors Nikhil DeNatale in 10th at 24:41 and Luke Zanuck in 13th at 24:47.
Oakes, DeNatale and Zanuck all earned NESCAC All-Conference Second Team honors, while Welch was All-NESCAC First Team.
"Both teams were outstanding in their own ways today," said Head Coach Dusty Lopez. "The men had to absorb a major setback with the loss of Rick Yanashita due to injury. Even missing one of our leaders, they ran fearlessly and made a very strong bid for the upset win. We had talked about competing for all 8,000 meters and they did just that."
Keiyu Mamiya finished 25th in 25:13, Liam O'Connor was 37th at 25:29, and Emil Nelson was 45th at 25:42. The Ephs group was one of the youngest across the finish line, featuring four sophomores and a first-year in the top seven.
The Ephs finished with a score of 57, behind Tufts University's 30 points, and saw strong performances throughout the team. Williams also had strong runs from Henry Alexander, Ryan Hardiman, TJ Zwall, Ethan Striff-Cave, Andrew Kolenski, Jackson McFerron, Gavin Engtrakul, and Avery Allen. For Tufts, it was the team's first championship since 2012 and fifth overall, tied for second with Bates behind Williams' 22.
"We were looking to win as a team but all the guys had a lot of heart out there today," said Welch. "It would've been great to win today but I'm glad that we were able to get second and show that we can be a team that competes with Tufts and those other top teams."
The team will look ahead to next weekend's D3 Challenge, followed by the NCAA Regional Championship at St. Lawrence in two weeks where the team will look to earn a bid to the National Championship race. That event will be held at Milliken Research Park in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, November 22.
