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