Hopkinton, NH — The WPI Men's Cross Country program recorded a fifth-place team finish at the NCAA Division III East Regional Championships hosted by Suffolk at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire on Saturday morning. 

WPI, ranked fifth in the most Week 7 USTFCCCA East Region rankings, finished fifth as a team in the 32-team field with the Crimson and Gray's top seven runners finishing in the top 55 of the 216-runner field for 136 points. Winning the regional championship was No. 2 MIT with 42 team points. No. 1 Tufts finished second overall with 49 team points followed by Colby (104) and Bates (124) to round out the top-five team placements. Individually, first-year Paulino Guevara Mateo of Fitchburg crossed the finish first in the 8k trek with a time of 24:31.6 for the regional title besting senior Amokrane Aouchiche of Tufts by just a second (24:32.6), followed by Keene State junior Tyler Bolaske who clocked in at third at 24:35.6.  

Leading the Engineers was senior Everett Mosher (Chester, VT) who finished eighth at 24:43.7 followed by Brinson Wyche (Corvallis, MT) who crossed the line at 25:03.9 for 14th overall. Thomas Skerry (Dedham, MA) completed the course in 25:38.7 for 33rd just ahead of teammate Henry Jacobsen (Bolton, MA) who clocked in at 25:55.1 for 38th. Sophomore Jackson Sobelman (Redding, CT) rounded out the top five runners for the Crimson and Gray with a 26:02.8 and 43rd overall. Sophomore Drew O'Reilly (Syracuse, NY) finished sixth among Worcester's Engineers and 49th overall at 26:06.4 followed by Matthew Meerdink (Ballston Spa, NY) 26:17.6. 

Each of the 10 regional team champion is assured of a NCAA berth, while 22 teams are selected as at-large bids by the NCAA committee.   After the at-large teams are selected, the top seven individual runners qualify for next weekend's national championship meet.  Mosher punched his ticket for sure with his performance on Saturday while Wyche will go if second place Tufts, ranked fourth nationally in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top 25, is undoubtedly awarded one of the 22 at-large teams.

The NCAA Division III National Championships is next Saturday, November 22 at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina and selections will be announced at NCAA.com on Sunday morning.

Results