Contoocook, NH --- Led by a third-place finish from graduate student Avi Bissoondial (Millbury, MA) and a foursome of All-Region performers, the WPI men's cross country team tallied it's best-ever finish at an NCAA Regional, taking third overall at the East Championships on Saturday.
 
Bissoondial, junior Brinson Wyche (Corvallis, MT), senior Ryan Fischer (Merrimack, NH) and first-year Drew O'Reilly (Syracuse, NY) helped the Engineers out-kick their fifth-place regional ranking heading into the event, scoring 128 points to finish third overall. MIT (#2 regionally, #20 nationally) took the regional title with 43 points, while Tufts (#1 regionally, #19 nationally) claimed second with 61. WPI outperformed Bowdoin (161) and Bates (162) who were ranked third and fourth in the region. 
 
Bissoondial earned his third-straight All-Region honor, recording the highest individual finish of his career. He traversed the 8K course in 24:41.91, finishing just behind Jake Velazquez (Keene, NH) of Keene State in 24:35.22 and Will Goddard (Sebago, ME) of Bowdoin in 24:41.91.
 
Wyche nabbed his second-career All-Region honor, finishing 20th overall, also a personal best placement, going 25:33.11 in the field of 229 runners. Right behind him, Fischer finished 27th (25:45.00) and O'Reilly was 28th (25:51.16), as both nabbed regional honors for the first time in their career.
 
Senior Thomas Skerry (Dedham, MA) rounded out the scorers with an important 50th place finish (26:17.99) to solidify the team's position in the top three. Senior Benjamin Trantanella (Westford, MA), who crossed in 62nd place (26:52.07), and junior Sean Corman (Waterford, CT), who placed 64th (26:54.40), both also acted as crucial displacers in the team scoring.
 
The Engineers now look ahead to the NCAA Division III National Championships, which is scheduled for November 23 at the LaVern Gibson course in Terre Haute, IN. Bissoondial has earned an automatic individual qualification, and the rest of the team and individual selections will be announced tomorrow on NCAA.com at 3pm.
 
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