Official 2025 NESCAC XC Thread

To be fair, Williams was missing their top guy from Conn who was also the top NESCAC guy at Conn (though Jonah Reisner was missing). Obviously he wasn't there and even if he won the meet (or finished second) Tufts would've won 35-37. So Tufts is definitively the better team and I expect they'll beat Williams at nationals, but with him in the race it would've been a lot closer.

Interesting strategy for Wesleyan to duck NESCACs, but at least they showed up for most of the awards ceremony.

Rumor has it Dusty Lopez has already started building more crosswalks in williamstown after the jumbos prove stopping every 3 minutes to be the new training meta.

I think NESCACs was today?

1. Tufts (Best school in Boston if you exclude Harvard, MIT, and BU): Ok we get it you guys are deep. Very assertive win, but let's not forget that your undergrad student body doubles that of every other NESCAC. You should be winning this meet every year given that stat. Just imagine how much better this team would've been today if this course had crosswalks and stop lights every 400 meters. I guess stopping every two minutes has its benefits? Also did we check to make sure 4:06 miler Jamie Norton didn't suit up today?

2. Williams (Cow go "MOOOOO"): "We don't have any words and we know you don't want to hear them. We understand your anger, your frustration, your sadness. Everything you're feeling- we get it. This isn't the ending we imagined, and certainly not the one we wanted. Thank you for being there the entire way."

3. Amherst (Mile One NESCAC Champions): Someone should've told the Mammoths that we were racing the 8K today, not the mile. 23 points at the first mile is some devious work. That being said they didn't completely fall apart, leading the first half of the race and holding onto that third spot. Their chances of actually winning in the second half were almost as extinct as their mascot.

4. Wesleyan (Fourth to finish first to leave): You rested your top guys for that?! You ducked Conn for THAT?! Are you sure you didn't duck NESCACs as well?! All hate aside, they still had a decent day and should still be nationally ranked after this. But this is the sign for all of the Wesleyan meat riders to HOP OFF. This team is solid but they're not as good as some of you say they are

5. MIDDlebury (Best NESCAC in Vermont): The panthers didn't beat Wesleyan, but they could've and probably should've. Wesleyan didn't have a great day, so this was the Panther's chance to make a statement and move up the national rankings. You might be tempted to point to their low stick, who didn't finish as high as they would've liked, but how much of a difference would that have made? 5 points? Maybe 10? Wouldn't have mattered. If this team wanted to beat Wesleyan today, the crux of that swing would've had to come from their 3-4-5. Those three were between 30th-40th but really needed to be inside the top 30, like where the Tufts 7-8-9-10 finished. Regardless, not a bad day overall and they should still be ranked after this.

6. Bates (2025 Maine State XC Champs): Not bad for some sub-9:10 guys! And hey, you beat Colby! Wear that Maine XC NESCAC crown with pride, you earned it! People like to hate on this team and I will be having NONE of it. Are they as good as we thought they would be this season? No, but this team can still make a run for nattys (and no, not because they beat Colby today). As teams like Tufts, Williams, and Amherst have shown us in the last 20 years, it's that depth matters tremendously in this sport. This bates team still has depth, especially in their 2-5 and 6-10. Much like the Middlebury 3-5, the Bates 2-5 needed to be closer to 25:00 today, which is a jump but not a huge jump. I believe that Bates can make a run for a natty's spot, but they're gonna have to have a great day at regionals.

7. Colby (Their mascot is an ass): YIKES. Un-rank this team NOW. The strength of this team comes from their 1-2-3, which is completely unsustainable and today we saw why. Frankly this team should've beaten Bates and should've been breathing down the necks of Wesleyan and Middlebury, but their 1-2-3 didn't race as well as we thought and their achilles heel (everyone not in their top 3) also hurt them when it mattered today. I honestly feel bad for this team, because today's result definitely hurt their nattys chances. Their backs will be against the wall at regionals, can they bounce back? No

8. Conn College (Swimming at Harkness Park is strictly prohibited): Yay Ellis woohoo you got ninth! Not much to highlight aside from that, but thanks for hosting guys! If you squint hard enough, Conn College and Tufts have nearly identical uniforms, so Conn College technically won this meet! Wait do you think some of those top Tufts runners were just misidentified Conn College runners? Let's hope so...

9. HAMILTON (A CONTINENTAL step forward): RAAAAAAH LFG. You all hated this team, called them the red headed stepchild of the NESCAC. BOY WERE YOU WRONG. ELEVEN guys under 27 is a HUGE step forward for this team plus they're only losing one of their top five to graduation next year! I'm just so proud of how far this team has come, the future looks bright for the continentals. Don't forget about Hamilton!

10. Trinity (Picture a chicken running around aimlessly after being decapitated): The ACTUAL red headed stepchild of the NESCAC. I know they weren't last, but we can't hate on Bowdoin that's just not fair. This team didn't have very high expectations going into the season, but I guess a top ten team finish at NESCACs technically exceeds those expectations? Yikes man. On the bright side, this team is very young. Only one senior raced today, and top ten guys will be returning next year. So the future is looking up for this team, but for now this team is buns.

11. Bowdoin (the declawed Polar Bear): This breaks my heart. This team was supposed to be weak this year, but with one smug guy going abroad and another smug 1:49 guy ducking cross this team's season was over before it began. I am actively praying for this team's come up, they just don't deserve this fate. Let's all take a moment to manifest this team recruiting two sub-25 guys for next season. Thank you.

Overall: In my opinion this conference has 7 teams on the nattys bubble. That being said, I can't see a scenario where all 7 get in (the loser of Bates-Colby at regionals won't make it, but that being said the winner may not even make it either so idk). Tufts and Williams are the favorites for their expected regions and while I do expect a fight, they will both likely come out on top. Is it possible that three NESCACs finish in the top ten at nationals? Yes! I'm not sure if this has happened before, but if it has there's no way it's happened in the last decade.

My predicted NESCAC nattys bids: Tufts, Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Middlebury

On the bubble: Bates, Colby

If you disagree with any of my takes feel free to argue with a wall

Hamilton could potentially get an at large nationals bid. They have been climbing up the rankings in their region for years now

I could tell within the first five minutes that it was going to be a uphill mile for Amherst. When will athletes recognize that if they are not the clear favorite in a race, it is generally unwise to go out like that. Research consistently shows that for races lasting approximately 20 minutes or longer, a negative-split pacing strategy is most effective.

There’s so much Wesleyan discourse on this thread for a team that’s only put up mind-numbingly average results all season. Reeks of Midd cope

How the heck does a PUBLIC UNIVERSITY with 20,000 STUDENTS win the New England SMALL COLLEGE Invitational. I'm unbelievably and justifiably pissed right now. Everyone celebrating because they haven't won in 12 years should instead be asking themselves : how the heck have they not won each of the last 12 years. Who do you root for in society: those who already own assets (Tufts) or the little guy on the street (Williams). Being a Tufts fan = being a Trump supporter. Williams earned the win today fair and square, they were the best small college in New England all year.

This is a ridiculous take, and I hope this is satire. Rooting for Tufts is nothing like rooting for Trump. Unlike Tufts, Donald Trump cares about the little guy. Donald Trump wants peace and love while Tufts students ship off to make missiles at Raytheon. Tufts is sponsored by Palantir. Also Donald Trump did not crap his pants today. Another lie from the left. #sad.

1/7 is tough

What world do you live in? Tufts is not public and the undergrad student body is just above 7,000. But you do you, I guess.

Get a job bro 😭💀

Okay

Actually get a job gang

As a Williams athlete, please don’t fall for this Wesleyan psyop. The Jumbos executed a great race and deserved the win, it’s been a long time coming since Nats ‘22. Gonna be a good race in SC

And let me guess, you think Trump won the 2024 election

Nescacs XC
Okay this is a mostly not positive log so I’m sorry to Wes teammates that don’t like negative Strava logs but this is so unbelievably frustrating. Whoever that Tufts kid is that pushed me 1.5 miles in and caused me to fall on my already messed up knee you race like a meanie. There’s literally no reason to be so aggressive that far into the race and I was not the only person you were shoving around. I’ve spent 4 weeks dealing with this bone bruise, did my first full workout this Tuesday, and then basically the worst case scenario happens on my last ever cross race. My knee started to hurt so badly after that and I basically just half ran/limped my way to the finish 🫤 I probably should have dnf’d because I made this a lot worse but the thought of not finishing my last xc race was not appealing. Time to take a full week off and start going to pt so I can actually fix this before indoor track.
To say something positive I am very proud of my teammates you guys are my best friends and I love running with all of you. Best team finish since 2015 this program has come so far 🙂

I bet my mortgage that this kid has the facial hair of a pedophile

side note: back in my day in Williamstown we used to take training seriously, apparently these young-ins just couldn’t keep up the tradition that is winning. Absolutely embarrassing to loosing to the guys from Medford ew city boys. Love my alma mater, go ephs!

Word is that Williams could have taken the win if Ethan Striff-Cave’s hype video was just slightly longer and had a few more random blackouts in it. Eli Welch