Paxton, Mass. – Anchored by individual champion Roy Wedge (Lawrence, Kan.) and Paul Welle (Statesboro, Ga.), who finished in first and second place respectively, 12-time defending champion MIT won its 13th straight New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's cross country championship on Saturday afternoon at Moore State Park.

The Engineers had three runners finish in the top five and three more in the top 13 to finish with 29 points and outdistance second place Coast Guard Academy (50 points). The Bears were followed closely by last year's runner-up, Springfield (52), while WPI (128), Babson (136), Wheaton (166) and Clark rounded out the field (205).

Clark's top finisher was freshman Rob Gammel (Mattapoisett, Mass.) who turned in a 55th place performance with a time of 28:56.77.

In the end, however, the story was Wedge who, with his first-place finish earned the 2010 NEWMAC Athlete of the Year as well as the 2010 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year. Wedge completed the 5K layout in 26:08.37, almost four full seconds ahead of his teammate Welle, who crossed the line at 26:12.32.

2009 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year Zach Pietras (Ludlow, Mass.) was third to wrap up the race with a time of 26:13.37 and Nate Crum (Bellvue, Wash.) of Coast Guard was fourth at 26:30.82. MIT's Richard Prevost (Springfield, Va.) was fifth, turning in a time of 26:37.57.

Wedge, Welle, Pietras, Crum, Prevost along with Springfield's Anthony Salvucci (Burlington, Mass.) and Coast Guard's Trevor Siperek (Red Bluff, Calif.) earn first-team all-conference honors.

2010 NEWMAC Men's Cross Country First-Team All-Conference
Roy Wedge, MIT
Paul Welle, MIT
Zach Pietras, Springfield
Nate Crum, Coast Guard
Richard Prevost, MIT
Anthony Salvucci, Springfield
Trevor Siperek, Coast Guard

2010 NEWMAC Men's Cross Country Second-Team All-Conference
Ryan O'Connell, Springfield
Dan Harper, MIT
Kevin O'Brien, Coast Guard
Kyle Fitzpatrick, Babson
Gihan Amarasiriwardena, MIT
Joe Christopher, MIT
Andrew Price, Coast Guard

2010 NEWMAC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year
Roy Wedge, MIT

2010 NEWMAC Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Year
Roy Wedge, MIT