No. 9 men’s cross country placed second out of four teams at the Purple Valley Classic (PVC) this Saturday. The top five Ephs finished second, fourth, 10th, 12th, and 13th, with second-place finisher Eli Welch ’28 clocking in a strong 24:43 for the 8k race.
Competition was fierce against No. 8 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and No. 11 Tufts, whose 36-point tally beat RPI’s 43 and the Ephs’ 41.
The Ephs stuck to their race strategy of starting out measured and finishing strong. “[Coach] Dusty Lopez said that you wanted to kind of conserve your energy in the first 4[k], so you had an extra gear or two in the second lap,” said Rick Yanashita ’26, the Ephs’ fifth finisher. “So I did exactly that.”
Welch also adopted this approach. “The race plan was to go out pretty conservatively, not too fast, but just keep the top guys from Tufts and RPI in our sights,” Welch said. “Then, make a bigger move with 2k left of the race, which is what we did.”
Understanding when to make the final push is both important and difficult, the team explained. “I took a look around and saw who was with me,” Yanashita said. “There were some Tufts guys that I know I’m definitely fitter than, like, ‘I can get this guy.’ Because they went out so fast, they started to trickle back slowly, and that kind of gives me motivation to pass this guy and then pass [the next].”
Though it’s often thought of as an individual sport, teamwork plays a powerful role toward the end of any cross country race, as it did on Saturday. “[At first] Eli was in the front of the pack and I was in the back,” Nikhil DeNatale ’26 said. “I was able to get next to him, and I was like, ‘Let’s go get the Tufts guy.’ And I think just hearing your teammate be like, ‘Alright, this is the next thing we got to do,’ is the easiest thing to do in a race. Just fall asleep and not think about the hurting.”
However, success in cross country is often painful, according to Welch. “There are moments, sometimes in a race, you’re not gonna feel the best, but it’s really just not about how you feel in that last kilometer,” he said. “You stick with it until you get there.”
The fans are essential motivators, according to the Ephs. “We draw motivation from our home crowd, the alumni, the coaches, [and] current and former runners who showed up,” Welch said.
“It’s a great time,” Yanashita said. “It was definitely an electric environment.”
Welch gave a special shoutout to the speed and power contingent of the track team that wasn’t competing Saturday but came along to cheer anyway. “The track team came out and made signs,” he said. “That was really good for us to see them out there, [to] have teammates there as supportive as them.”
The home meet also welcomed alums to compete, including overall race winner and former team captain Chuckie Namiot ’25. Beyond the opportunity to race again after graduating, this inclusive tradition allows alums to remain connected to current students, participants said. “It’s just a huge privilege to be able to come back and be a part of the Williams community,” Namiot said.
Having placed 10th last year at NCAAs, a strong performance at nationals remains the long-term goal for the season. “Keep an eye on that,” Yanashita said. “We’re starting to get the pieces together, and it should be a really good season. Hopefully people are watching.”
Welch shared a similar zeal for the possibility of a trophy. “The goal is to win nationals with the team,” he said. “So, obviously we’ve got some work to do. We lost to Tufts [at PVC], but we’re still in a pretty heavy training block right now, and I think that’s gonna pay off in November when the races really matter.”
The team wants to win — there is no doubt about that — but they also say there’s more to the sport than competitive performance. “It is really special to just get to run here, regardless of the competing aspect of the sport,” DeNatale said. “Just getting out, going for runs, makes me really happy. So just trying to be grateful for the day in, day out.”
Duncan DeProfio ’27 agreed: “It was a great day to be an Eph, as always.”
