The Red Hawks had a team entered in each of the three races held upon the rolling hills of Williamstown; the men’s 8K, the men’s 5K, and the women’s 5K. With dense competition among fourteen teams from New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, all three of the Rensselaer teams were able to finish with a solid standing.

The men’s 8K team secured seventh place among eleven teams with a total of 167 points. Team captain senior Duane Crammond finished first for the Engineers in a time of 28:10, which earned him 22nd place overall. Within 21 seconds, Duane was followed by Rensselaer’s main pack, formed between senior Travis Bashaw finishing 28th in 28:31, junior John Bonnett finishing 37th in the time of 28:41, and junior Bob Baniak finishing 38th in the time of 28:41. Sophomore Josh Schuster rounded out team scoring finishing with a time of 29:06, good for 42nd place.

The other half of the Rensselaer men’s team was entered in the 5K race, which followed upon the conclusion of the men’s 8K. This team was once again led by junior Keith Weiss in sixth place with a finishing time of 17:05, after recovering from a wrong turn. Around the second mile mark, Weiss, leading the race, was guided off course by the official meet pace bike. When he successfully returned to the course, Keith’s valuable lead had vanished. Still determined, Weiss raced the remaining mile to finish with a solid sixth place. He was then followed by teammate John Evans, a strong freshman runner with a finishing time of 17:39, earning him 16th place overall. In addition, the men’s 5K squad was boosted by an impressive performance by junior Dave Vona, who finished in 17:59, earning him the final spot among the top twenty finishers.

Concluding the day’s events was the women’s 5K race which attracted the largest crowd of spectators. Team captain, junior Rebecca Rosenberg-Beran, led the Rensselaer women’s team for the second time this season with an overall finish in 23rd place in 20:08. Junior Cara O’Toole again finished second for the team this week, in 60th place overall in a time of 21:23. Junior Leah Underwood followed up last week’s performance with another top five finish for the team. This week, Underwood was fourth on the team finishing the race in 83rd place in a time of 22:02. RPI’s other two scorers juniors Jess Orsak and Corey Atwell were new additions to the top five, both with impressive races this week and solid improvements from the week before. Orsak placed third for the team and 71st overall with a time of 21:37 while Atwell placed fifth for the team in 104th place in a time of 22:44. The women succeeded in finishing ninth among the thirteen teams.