2025 Conn College Invite Preview
Gunners, boneheads, and every stereotype in between are currently descending in droves upon the two most important locations in D3 running this weekend: Rock Island, Illinois and Waterford, Connecticut. The former hosts the Augie Interregional Invite, which Emily has already done an excellent preview for, and you can find that HERE. The latter is the Connecticut College Invite, where 13 D3GD ranked men’s teams will scratch and claw at each other to be top chicken, and 17 ranked women’s teams, including teams 1-5 (!), will go scorched earth to try and prove their prowess. Dry seasons are (should be) in full swing. Conference meets are mere weeks away. Anticipation builds as each of these teams vie for a good result to boost their cross-regional reputations. A risky endeavor! But that’s the fun of sport. Here is the lowdown for Saturday in Connecticut.
Conn College Invite (Waterford, Connecticut - Harkness Memorial State Park)
Conditions: High 40s into low 50s - sunny, marginal wind - little excuse to not run fast!
Men’s Preview:
The vanguard of their respective regions, #3 Johns Hopkins, #6 Williams, and #8 Tufts look to hold the line and weather the interregional onslaught as they sharpen up for the bigger days ahead. #4 NYU, meanwhile, has more of a personal gambit lining up against #6 SUNY Geneseo, their Niagara Region rivals knocking on their brownstone. The winner of this holds the crown and will be the regional favorite heading into the postseason. #11 CMS, #19 St. Olaf, and #20 Lynchburg are the lone ambassadors for their region, and how these teams in particular fare Saturday will make a difference in regional perceptions and at-large bids.
Emmanuel Leblond (Sr. / Johns Hopkins) has resolutely led the way for #3 Johns Hopkins by over half a minute this season, and should absolutely aspire for a top 3 individual finish. Their scoring pack behind him, meanwhile, has been steady, all finishing under 25 at Paul Short two weeks ago. A key for Johns Hopkins is getting their freshman ace & #2 runner Anthony Clark as close to Leblond as possible. Freshmen usually more or less pick daisies their first college season, so Clark’s immediate impact is both invaluable and uncommon. Being 35 & 40 seconds off Leblond in his first two races (24:03 at Paul Short), Clark’s bridging the gap could be what solidly takes the Blue Jays from top 10 caliber to true podium contenders, amongst other top candidates that possess a staggering quantity of front runner firepower.
#4 NYU arms themselves with commendable depth - 6 runners under 25 at Paul Short, led by Liam Hagerty (Jr.) and his spry teammate Theo Udelson-Nee (Fr.). The two were in a dead lock at the Paul Short finish line, both running 24:31. Udelson-Nee is another meteorically rising freshman, and his and Hagerty’s friendly rivalry with leading the Violets will need to escalate, because where NYU has depth, regional rival #6 SUNY Geneseo has star power and then some. Ryan Hagan (So.) is a real threat to win this race outright, and put 45 seconds on Hagerty and Udelson-Nee at Paul Short (albeit, in a different heat.) Emerson Comer (Jr.) is a solidly developing 2nd man who was also ahead of NYU’s 1-2, but it’s SUNY Geneseo’s 3-5 runners dipping well above 25 that were why NYU beat them in the compiled Paul Short results. If another SUNY Geneseo runner gets close to Comer, a leapfrog could be expected.
#7 Williams and #8 Tufts, though in different regions, would surely love to solidly smack each other after a razor thin purported dual meet two weeks ago at Keene State. Tufts had slightly better front punchers with Jonah Reisner (Jr.) and Cullen McCaleb (Sr.), but Williams had leaner, meaner scoring pack running, with a tight first 4 led by Nikhil DeNatale (Sr.) and Rick Yanashita (Sr.). Perhaps the best (and still quite small) data point to attest to Williams edging Tufts 31-32 was William’s 5th man Malcom Oakes (So. / 24:51) putting five seconds and a few crucial points on Tuft’s 5th man Calvin Cummings (Sr. / 24:56). But Conn College isn’t a dual meet, and expect much larger gaps between these runners. Their fifth men will likely decide who comes out on top and potentially gets a top three team finish overall. In Tuft’s favor, they have a safety net past 5 Williams does not: at Keene State, two more Jumbos came in two seconds after Cummings for a very deep top 7. They should take solace knowing how much of a strength it is to have 6th & 7th runners like that.
Hayden Beauchemin Jr.) is another lone wolf ace that should challenge for a single digit finish and lead #11 CMS to what certainly should be an attempt to scrape past Williams or Tufts. CMS is flying across the country to show what the West region has to offer. A key for them will be their pack. If they can replicate what they did at PreNats, the Stags will be delighted with their out of region wins. Pierce Clark (So.) took a big step up at the UCR invite. We’ll see if he can continue his sophomore year breakout.
#12 Amherst probably doesn’t know who they want to beat (probably everyone): they fell to NYU at Paul Short and undoubtedly will seek revenge, but Williams are their main inter-region rival this weekend and are ranked #1 in the Mideast - and CMS is ranked right above them nationally and beating them could place Amherst within the top 10 overall next week. It’s yet another dazzling freshman, Carter Bengston, leading the charge with the stalwart Harrison Dow (Jr.) and Henry Dennen (Sr.) not far behind.
#19 St. Olaf has temporarily escaped the boogeyman (a Wisconsin system team) and gets a fresh new chance to establish their identity. The entire North Region should want them to run well here, because the North has 7 ranked teams currently (the most out of any region) and frankly, they’re probably not going to get 6 at-large bids. It could vary - anywhere from 2-5 as a result of interregional head-to-heads, like this very one Olaf is sticking their neck out to do. Kevin Turlington (Sr.) has remained an underrated ace, always trailing his conference rival and real national title threat Mo Bati (Jr. / Augsburg - resting this week), but still very much All-American caliber once again. He should look to be in the top 5. The rest of the Ole pack has trailed concerningly far back these first few races, and are surely praying like good Lutherans for the return of their other All-American - senior Ignatius Fitzgerald. His return or continued absence Saturday will have a huge role in the at-large politics of the North region, and ultimately St. Olaf themselves, squarely in the middle of it all.
Finally, #20 Lynchburg has a stellar low stick in Alex Jordan (So.) and he should inspire the rest of their scoring pack of sophomores and juniors to fend off #23 MIT, with a better top 3 led by Yichen Sun (Jr.) yet a much further back 4 and 5. The assault for mid-season relevance from the other three ranked teams, #26 Wesleyan, #29 Colby, and #32 Middlebury, should be epic in its own right. I wouldn’t be surprised with their results being very mercurial with laying it all out to stay afloat.
Women’s Preview:
This is a superb mid-season slugfest of insane D3 scale. Unless upsets abound in November, the podium at Conn could very well be the podium at Nationals. It particularly helps that conditions look favorable, because so many of these teams have ridiculous, lights-out firepower at the front. The top five teams all hail from different regions, and they probably couldn’t care less about at-large bids and the fates of their regional rivals. This is for something bigger - genuine confidence - to fumble or earn against the absolute best in D3 ahead of the post-season.
#1 MIT will look to hold onto the top spot when they face off against the entire top five. At Paul Short, Johns Hopkins took them down but they were without Gillian Roeder (Sr.) and Rujuta Sane (Sr.), who were held out of Paul Short two weeks ago due to sickness. Early in the season the full squad destroyed #25 Coast Guard at the Cardinal Invite, putting 10 ahead of Coast Guard’s 2nd, led by Roeder, Sane, and Kate Sanderson (Sr.) Add in Lexi Fernandez (Sr.) and Heather Jensen (Jr.) and their national champion squad is ready to run it back. Depth has been key for MIT as shown at Paul Short. They were only 50 points back from Johns Hopkins while missing Roeder and Sane. That kind of depth means MIT can compete for at least 5th overall even without those two, but it won’t be enough to leapfrog the other podium threats. With them, their top three could each challenge for the individual win, and MIT could still put 10 ahead of most teams’ scoring five.
Ashlyn Pallota (So.) and Josephine Dziedzic (Jr.) spearhead a vicious 1-2 kick for #2 NYU. Half a minute back, a trio of juniors round out their scoring five, Olivia Jackson, Lucy Gott, and Daniela Sekhar. Where there is consistency with their five, they lack the depth of a team like MIT; 6th woman Emily Castles (Sr.) will need to be ready to step up if any of the three pack juniors have an off day. #3 Johns Hopkins has a very similar team blueprint to NYU - ace Carter Brotherton (So.) a half minute ahead of all the other Blue Jays, and a steadfast, tight-knit pack of Mia Kotler (Fr.), Storrie Kulynych-Irvin (So.), Eleni Alvarez (Jr.), and Natalie Boquist (Sr.) ready to eat up other scoring squads. NYU and Johns Hopkins ran so similarly at Paul Short, the big difference maker was NYU having a 1 AND a 2 well up front. It will be close, but if any of the Blue Jay pack breaks away from each other, Johns Hopkins very well could edge NYU, and by all accounts win the meet.
#4 Williams has won every single race they’ve been to so far this season, yet they’ve kept their cards a bit closer staying close to home, and in my mind they have the potential to surprise more than others on Saturday. Two weeks ago at the KSC Invitational they mopped the floor with #17 Tufts, and though Elizabeth Donahue (Sr.) is a very good runner and did what she could for the Jumbos, not much can be done with Williams going 1-4, led by Tamar Byl-Brann (Jr.). It would’ve been 1-5 if Kate Swann (Sr.) raced, who convincingly won an early season meet over Byl-Brann and other teammates, but hasn’t been in action since. Even without Swann, having a staggering 4 low sticks is hard to match. The only argument against them is in fact that they’ve won every race so far; they haven’t been tested and pushed hard yet.
#5 CMS rounds out the top five. Riley Capuano (Sr.) can be well within the top 10 overall finishers on a good day, and leads a closely strung pack of Athenas that eviscerated #19 Vassar at Pre-Nats a month ago, going 2-5 and having 2 more in the top 10. Their varsity has been resting for several weekends now, but don’t expect anyone to be held out with their varsity getting more rest with less travel than other squads. This is yet another team that has capable front runners for all of the scoring five. Though Capuano has led the team each race, Sadie Drucker (Jr.) and Elle Marsyla (Sr.) have been chomping at her heels, and both Drucker and Marsyla could end up leading the team Saturday…. which also means vying for top 10 overall.
Below the stratosphere of the top 5, teams are much more rightfully grounded in contemplating their standings and what they need to do on Saturday to set themselves up well for the post season. #12 Middlebury may find it a reach to challenge their Mideast Region rival Williams, but they should hope to stave off #11 SUNY Geneseo, led by Ann Brennan (Sr.) Both should be ready to pounce if any of the big 5 show cracks. Middlebury has a low stick in Audrey MacLean (Jr.) that SUNY Geneseo doesn’t quite have right now, and an up and coming #2 in freshman Claire Palmer, while SUNY Geneseo has a very young and versatile squad, any of whom could pop off amongst the ranks on Saturday. Olivia Warr (Jr.) leads the cream of the South Region #14 Washington and Lee against these two teams in particular; they were seconds off each other at Paul Short. Speaking of that, seconds behind them two weeks ago was #16 Connecticut College, this weekend’s hosts, led by Grace McDonough (Sr.). Home course advantages are a real thing, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if Connecticut College beats the other teams in this tier of competition. #20 Amherst has shown a large overall gap in their scorers, but that’s because Hannah Stephenson (So.) has been a dynamite lead for the team and a worthy rival for Middlebury’s MacLean. Both Connecticut and Amherst should particularly aim to topple Mideast Region rivals Middlebury, as they’re currently ranked 3rd and 4th regionally. That’s an uncomfortable place to be in. Never a guarantee, these at-large bids….
#18 Carleton, like the St. Olaf Men, are the North Region’s ambassadors, and their performance will be particularly interesting with a lack of historical basis so far - they have remained squarely in the Midwest until now. Hannah Preisser (Sr.) has been unflinching for Carleton over the years, and could seriously challenge for the win. An occasionally wide scoring spread so far this season is made better by the arrival and immediate impact of Claire Vukovics (Fr.), who was let loose and stomped the entire field at the Blugold Invitational while Preisser rested. The Knights (Carls) could leapfrog many of the middle tier teams this weekend, so long as Preisser is back and the rest of their scoring pack, led by Aliya Larsen (Sr.), work and advance together.
The rest of the teams all have the ability to make an impact with teams that have found themselves very close to their rivals at previous races (#19 Vassar) and teams that have historically had a slow start yet get it done by the post season (#26 Wesleyan, #28 St. Olaf).
I hope you are excited for this, because if you’re running in it and aren’t, you’re sure in trouble! D3GD boots will be on the ground for more coverage. I will be writing a post race analysis too - stay tuned.