NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Graduate student Lowell Hensgen won the 2023 NEWMAC Men's Cross Country Championship to lead Massachusetts Institute of Technology to their 25th consecutive conference victory this morning on the Smith Vocational Fields in Northampton, Mass. The eight-kilometer championship race was hosted by Smith College.  

MIT recorded a winning score of 20 points with eight finishers in the top 10 in the race. The Engineers have claimed all 25 conference titles in the 26-year history of the NEWMAC, excluding a possible 26 crowns with the cancellation of the 2020 race due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Worcester Polytechnic Institute finished second with a score of 56 points, while Babson College placed third with 92 points. United States Coast Guard Academy trailed in fourth with 98 points and Wheaton College scored 139 points to finish fifth. Springfield College recorded 172 points to finish sixth, followed by Emerson College in seventh place with 200 points. Clark University placed eighth with 245 points while Salve Regina University rounded out the field in ninth with 256 points.  

Hensgen joins current teammate graduate student Sam Acquaviva (Newburyport, Mass.) as the NEWMAC individual champion after clocking in a time of 24:49.3. He is also named the NEWMAC Athlete of the Year marking the 21st occasion that an MIT runner has earned the accolade. 

Acquaviva, who was the defending league champion, was less than eight seconds behind at 24:56.8 to place second while fellow graduate student Vedang Lad (Plainsboro, N.J.) finished fourth registering a time of 25:04.4. Graduate student Jacob Hansen (Bountiful, Utah) posted a sixth-place finish with a time of 25:16.8 while senior Henry Hardart (Annapolis, Md.) placed seventh with a time of 25:28.1 to round out the top five for the Engineers. 

MIT first year Yichen Sun (Chapel Hill, N.C.) received the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year honors after placing ninth with a time of 25:31.0 to become the 22nd Engineer to earn the top newcomer designation.

The top 14 finishers all earned NEWMAC All-Conference accolades.

1. Lowell Hensgen (Gr., Raleigh, N.C.) - MIT - 24:49.3

2. Sam Acquaviva (Gr., Newburyport, Mass.) - MIT - 24:56.8

3. Anthony Rodriguez (Sr., Prairie View, Ill.) - Babson - 25:00.1

4. Vedang Lad (Sr., Plainsboro, N.J.) - MIT - 25:04.4

5. David Reynolds (Gr., Andover, N.H.) - WPI - 25:16.1

6. Jacob Hansen (Gr., Bountiful, Utah) - MIT - 25:16.8

7. Henry Hardart (Sr., Annapolis, Md.) - MIT - 25:28.1

8. Pablo Arroyo (Jr., Richardson, Texas) - MIT - 25:30.2

9. Yichen Sun (Fy., Chapel Hill, N.C.) - MIT - 25:31.0

10. Jaxson Miller (Fy., Goshen, Ind.) - MIT - 25:35.9

11. Matt Schofield (Gr., Shorewood, Ill.) - MIT - 25:40.7

12. Avi Bissoondial (Sr., Millbury, Mass.) - WPI - 25:55.6

13. Jacob Cobb (So., West Deptford, N.J.) - MIT - 26:05.0

14. Samir Amin (Jr., Olympia, Wash.) - MIT - 26:07.5