NOTE - The preview is based upon information provided by the coaches of the respective teams and not on the rankings administrator and will be updated towards the end of the summer. As of 8/15

(Based on the order of finish from 2006 Regionals)

Williams

The 2007 Eph squad returns 3 of the top 7 from last year's NCAA New England Regional championship team. The Ephs also won the NESCAC title and the ECAC Championship, and went on to place 7th at NCAA Nationals. Last year's graduating class included Stephen Wills (2nd at Regional), Colin Carroll (3rd in NESCAC), Mike Davitian (7th at Regional), Sean Hyland (4th at ECAC), Bill Ference (7th ECAC) and Chris Ellis-Ferrera (33rd at Regional). Looking for peak senior years will be Morgan Seybert (10th NESCAC), Corey Levin (18th Regional), Jim Clayton (3rd ECAC '05), Grant Burgess (6th ECAC 05; 9:18 steeplechase) and tri-captain Jared Oubre. Top juniors include Brendan Christian (4th NESCAC; 3rd at Regional), Tim Durham, Brooks Udelsman, Steve VanWert and Macklin Chaffee (11th ECAC; 4:13 mile). The Class of 2010 developed quickly for Williams last year, and much is expected of them in their sophomore year: Matt Deady (26th ECAC), Connor Kamm (12th NESCAC; 27th Regional), Edgar Kosgey (5th ECAC), Jeff Perlis (9th ECAC; 15:15 5k), and Corey Watts (6th ECAC; 31:52 10k). It will be tough for members of the Class of 2011 to break into this lineup, but some have the talent to make it including Brian Cole (4:11 Mile) and Mike Geary (4:15 Mile). The team should again be among the top 3 in the always highly competitive NESCAC and vie for a top-3 New England Div. III position and another trip to the NCAA Championships.

Bowdoin

Bowdoin graduated Owen McKenna from the top 5, but also lost #1 runner and 2006 cross-country All-American Archie Abrams out for the season with an Achilles tendon injury.  Bowdoin is deep enough to contend for a top three regional finish with the return of 2006 All-New England runners Nate Krah ’08, John Hall ’08, and Thompson Ogilvie ‘10 and 2005 All-New England runner Tyler Lonsdale ’08.

Trinity

Should be in the hunt for with 6 or 7 teams for a spot to go to NCAA's. Return everyone from last year's top seven except Nate Gravel. Last year's New England's - 1st Hunter Norte, 20th Sam Moorhead, 52nd Matt Anderson, 75th Ryan Lane, 159th Tim Scarella, and 184th Steve Sullivan. Added 7 freshman to this year team, Notable Wesley Halstead, 9:13 3200

Wesleyan

Return 2 of last falls top 7. Sean Watson 34th at 2006 regionals (15:11 5k track), Matt Shea 61st at 2006 regionals (15:40 5k track). Other returners that should make up top 7: Chris Foster ( 4:05 1500m track), Jonah Blumstein (15:19 5k track), Sam Kurtis (15:45 5k track), Justin Spring (16:13 5k track), Dave Tassone (16:26 5k track). I don't think we will have a freshman break into our top 5

Tufts

Returning 4 of top 7 from 2006 team including Nick Welch (So, 35th), Dave Sorensen (SR, 45th), Jesse Faller (So, 66th), and Peter Brown (So, 123rd).  Welch, Sorensen, and Faller all demonstrated solid growth over the track seasons.  Welch – 15:10, 5k; Faller – 3:57, 1500; Sorensen – 9:03, steeplechase, All American
Other returners include Ryan Lena (So, 30th at ECACs, 8:51-indoor 3k), David Tilton (Jr, 53rd at ECACs), and Ben Silver (So, 61st at ECACs).  Tufts also welcomes back Chris Kantos from a year abroad.  Chris was 18th at regionals as a sophomore and ran has PR’s of 14:43 and 31:02 on the track. 
A few ECAC caliber freshmen, but it is yet to be seen if any of them will race their way onto the top 7 as a first year.  Overall the team should be a few steps better than last year’s squad. 

Brandeis

While we lose two of our top seven from 2006 (#3 runner Joel Sunshine to graduation and our usual #5 runner Brian McDonald, who transferred to a school in California), we should have a stronger and significantly deeper team than last year. Seniors Tim Condon, John Guilinger, Dan Suher and junior Matt Jennings should lead the way. A stomach virus hit us hard at last years regional meet, but I think Condon’s UAA performance showed he would have been one of the top runners in the region. After strong XC campaigns in 2006, Guilinger (4.12 1600m leg) and Jennings (3.55 1500m) both made huge strides during the track season, and should make similar gains on the country. They will be backed by a strong and deep freshman class who could all make an immediate impact. These include Paul Norton (9:33/2 mile, 15:34/5000), Dan Anastos (4:06/1500, 8:54/3000, 15:31/5000), Devon Holgate (4:05/1500, 8:58/3000 indoor), Zack Schwartz (9:37/2 mile indoor), Sam Donovan (4:26/mile, 16:10 at Franklin Park), Kerwin Vega (9:49/2 mile), Ben Bray (4:25/mile indoor), Mekonen Gendebo (9:13/3000 indoor) and Jeremy Goldenberg (2:35/1000). Everyone is healthy and training well so we are looking forward to a great year.

MIT

MIT men's team only lost Kevin Brulois from our top 11.  Key returners are Jake Ruzevick, Joe Roy-Mayhew, Trevor Rundell and Johannes Schneider.  No proven freshmen this year.

Middlebury

Our top returning runner is All-American, Jimmy Butcher. He is a senior/co-captain this year and should be, barring injury or sickness, one of the top male runners in New England this fall. Jimmy was the second New England finisher at NCAA’s last year and is hoping to improve on his 2006 34th place finish this November.
My other co-captain is All-New England, Peter Murphy.  Peter came on strong last year and saved his best race for his last finishing 31st in the NCAA Regional
We will have a fairly veteran team with 5 of my top 7 returning.  Sophomores Chris Free and Bruce Hallett ran consistently #3 and #4 last year as first years.  They should be much improved this year.  Jack Wambach was 62nd at Regionals last year and has had an excellent summer of training and should be much improved.
We have a fairly strong FY class and the team’s success will be the extent to which these first years adapt to college running.

Amherst

We lose three of our Top 7 from last year - 4th and 7th to graduation, and 3rd - Tomas Morrissey has decided to not return to the team. Despite those losses the team should still be significantly stronger as the large group of first year runners last fall have a year of experience and have run very well during the track season. Sophomores Daniel Murner and Carlyle Eubank both ran very well on the track as they ran under 15:10 in the 5k and Daniel winning the DIII 10k. Senior Mike Harbus is back to full health, while juniors Harrison Lakehomer and Peter Foote should factor heavily into the scoring as Harrison will look to repeat as Little Three Champion. The sophomore class will have gained valuable experience this past year and Jimmy Swanson, Tom Anderson, Eric Holaday, Will Bell and Willy Sego that could jump into the scoring this fall. Several first year runners have posted great track times to close out their high school careers and will be looking to make an impact at the collegiate level as John McGrail (4:23 Mile/8:54 3k), Peter Harrison (3:57/8:53), Will Yochum (4:24/9:24) are a few of the guys who will look to make a smooth transition to the 5 Mile race distance.

Southern Maine

The 07' USM Men's CC Team graduated noboby and return their top 7 from last years 10th place finishing team at the 06' NCAA New England Regional Championships and have 12 returners in all from last year's squad. This year's squad will be led by the Wheeler twins; All-New England performer & National qualifier Curtis who placed 10th at last year regionals will be followed closely by Nick who also earned All-New England honors by his 15th place finish last year at regionals. These 2 will be followed by a strong & talented nucleaus of Chris Hopkins (50th), Nick Downing (77th), Justin Richardson (86th), Forrest Tobie (87th), & Isaac Worrall (104th) @ the 06' regional championships. Hopkins, Richardson, & Tobie all battled injuries last year and simply ran tough. We hope to keep them healthy this year so we can close that gap within our top 5. Nick Downing had a great first year, he will continue to improve and simply get it done. Returners Ryan Dyer, Saylor Jacobs, Jon Letendre along with newcome Tyler Jasud will provide depth and will push our top 7. With a strong freshmen class of 8 young men and a number of these young men have run high 16:00's - mid 17:00's for 5k depending on the course, along with a couple of strong transfers should make the 07' USM team one with strong depth & talent.

Coast Guard

Bates

We return 4 of our top seven from last year. Matt Dunlap will be our top returner and as an All-Region runner last year he hopes to position himself for an individual bid to nationals. Fellow seniors Andrew Percy and Harrison Little will add a lot of experience. Doug Brecher, CJ Murray and Mike Watson all improved during track last year and appear prepared for their best seasons yet. Fellow senior Tim McCall abroad last spring has made dramatic improvements and could be a factor in our top seven. We have a large freshmen class and a number of individuals who have the potential to help our top five and seven get stronger. We look to improve from last year an hope to be among the top 10 in New England.

Colby

Connecticut College

Connecticut College returns their top four from 2006. Keith Drake (12th at Regionals; 142nd at Nationals), Brian Murtagh (13th Regionals; 2nd NESCACs); Aaron Wheeler (58th Regionals 2006; 29th in 2005); and Brendan Curran (114th Regionals 2006; 47th in 2005) should again lead the Camels. Adding depth to the team will be seven freshmen including two-time Connecticut State Class S 2-mile champion Shawn Mulcahy (4:28/9:42/15:58 track); Andy Patton
(4:27/9:40/15:55 X-C); and Jacob Garber (2:01/4:30/9:40/16:04 X-C).

Keene State

We return everyone from last years XC team. They did show better on the track so hopefully we go into this fall in a much better position. With track times of Kelleher 4:10/mile 14:34, Samuel 15:07, Davis 15:10,  Najem 3:56/1500 15:25, Garrity 32:22 (split 15:36), Welch 4:19 mile indoor missed outdoor, Gavaghan 16:09, Goupil 16:13, Carbee 16:15 along with other veterans and a freshmen group lead by Pinkerton NH Craig MacPherson 1:55/800 15:55/xc/5k, Merrimack NH Jeff Trethewey 4:25/1600 9:53/3200, Newtown Ct. Charlie Baldour 4:28/1600 (Jr.yr.) 1:59, 2:36/1000 (Sr yr.), Newtown Ct.  Eric MacKnight 9:56 plus 10-13 others. Finally we add transfer Sam Wood who has run 15:24 and 32:35 (at Quinnipiac) who had to sit out a year but is training well so far this spring and summer and Keene NH., Brandon Schillemat (9:34, 16:09xc5k) who has not raced for a couple of years. This is the most talent we have had for a long time. We should be much better and much deeper.

Gordon

Last year Gordon Men finished 2nd in the Commonwealth Coast Conference and placed 31st in the NCAA NE Regional Meet.  We expect to improve significantly this year and will hopefully be close to 20th place in the Regional meet.  We return 5 of our top 7 with So Ben McGrath (147th 29:07), Jr Kirk Vanacore (198th, improved to 16:40/35:50 on track), Sr Captain Erik Boyer (200th, improved to 2:00/4:18 1500/16:40 on track),  Jr JD Lavalee (236th, improved to 4:30 1500/2:06 on track) and So Rowan Walker (268).  We have 7 new freshmen recruits including Andrew Worth (Ledyard, CT 4:39/10:15), Dan Gaunya (Woodstock, CT 4:40/10:15), Dave Brooks (Gloucester, MA 4:18 1500/2:02/2nd MA state Decathlon) and Josh Bailey (Foran, CT  4:45 mile).