A run streak: MIT XC wins another NEWMAC title
No. 9 Women extend title run to 19, No. 10 men to 28
Winning a conference title is a hard thing to make seem like “old news”, but that’s exactly what the MIT Women’s & Men’s Cross Country teams have managed to accomplish time and time again. The NEWMAC Cross Country Championships were held on Oct. 31 at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
In cross country, the team with the lower score wins. The women’s team completed the 6K race with just 19 points, well ahead of second-place Coast Guard (56 points) and third-place Smith College (84 points). The team was led by Liv Girand ’27, who also claimed the individual NEWMAC title with a time of 22:17.6. Other MIT runners who contributed to the team score were Jordan Lacsamana ’29, Jessica Meza ’27, Megan Diulus ’27, and Heather Jensen ’27. They placed second, fourth, fifth, and seventh, respectively. Girand was named NEWMAC Athlete of the Year, becoming the 11th MIT runner to receive the honor. She will conclude her senior NEWMAC campaign as a four-time NEWMAC All-Conference honoree.
On the men’s side, MIT won with 25 points. Although MIT did not claim the individual title, its five scoring runners — Renne Cooper ’28, Nate Martinez ’27, Luke Rupert ’28, Owen Sondag ’29, and Yichen Sun ’27 — finished consecutively in third through seventh place. MIT’s strength extended beyond its scoring runners: nearly half of the top 25 finishers in Saturday’s race — 12 in total — were Engineers.
Both the women’s and men’s teams will now turn their attention to the NCAA Division III East Regional Championship, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14 and hosted by Bates College. The teams aim to secure berths in the 2026 Division III National Championship. The top-finishing team in each division at the regional championships will automatically qualify for the national championships.