Race Results
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POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 3, 2011) – The Vassar College men's cross country team captured the first four places, and five of the top eight, en route to starting the 2011 season with the championship of the VC Invitational for the ninth straight year.

The Brewers thoroughly dominated the 10-team field, finishing the 6k race with a scant 18 points. Stevens Institute of Technology was the closest team to Vassar with 54 points, followed by SUNY New Paltz with 61, Nyack (126) and Bard (173) among the top five team finishers.

While Vassar alum Andrew Utas won the race, outdistancing 105 runners with a 19:46 finish, it was Brewer senior Justin Rupert who took home top collegiate honors with a 20:07 time, 19 seconds faster than last season on a morning when the air got more humid as the race progressed.

Freshman Eliot Gerson finished third overall and second for Vassar in his first intercollegiate race (20:09). Junior Roni Teich (20:22) and senior William Healy (20:23) comprised the top four finishers. Senior Evan Russek completed the scoring for Vassar with an eighth place performance (20:51). Vassar's seven runner scoring contingent consisted of freshman Sean Ferguson (21:23) and sophomore Charles Wise (21:25), who finished 14th and 15th overall.

“Our goal was to run a controlled race,” said Rupert, who ran his career best on the Farm course. “From the get-go we had the top four runners out there, and we kept that pack running mentality for the majority of the race. Eliot (Gerson) really helped me on the Farm Road, it was great running with a teammate.”

For his part, Gerson had an impressive debut. “I felt like it could have been any one of our top four runners that could have won this race,” Gerson said. “In my mind, we had four runners tied for first. Justin helped me on the field portion of the course, Will pushed us through the race and Roni took over at times. It was amazing to run in front of a crowd of students and parents and alums that were so supportive.”

A ninth straight Invitational is an impressive accomplishment, and head coach James McCowan recognized that his team was able to maintain meet dominance by sticking to its core racing plan.

“We accomplished our goals today,” said McCowan. “It's early in the season, no one is in top form yet. We went out to run together and work as a team and did a good job of that. In the last mile they broke out chasing Andrew (Utas). We sat out Sam Wagner and Zack Williams today, so we know we'll be stronger in the coming weeks.”

The Brewers will have an off week next Saturday, and will resume racing on September 17 at the RPI Invitational in Saratoga, NY.