Men’s Cross Country | Nov. 12 | NCAA Mideast Regional Championships
This past weekend the men’s cross country team traveled up north to Canton, NY, for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. The team had a strong finish to the season, placing seventh out of 23 schools with a team score of 169. The Brewers saw two runners finish in the top 35 to earn All-Region honors. Miles Takiguchi ’24 finished sixth overall with a time of 25:39.1 and Aidan Mayer ’24 placed 23rd overall with a time of 26:23.2. Both Takiguchi and Mayer earned individual NCAA National Championship qualifications for their performances. Next across the line for the Brewers were Andrew Blackburn ’24 and Davis Anderson ’26, who finished back-to-back at 44th and 45th overall with times of 27:14 and 27:18 respectively. Rounding out the scoring five was Jose Magana ’25, who finished 51st with a time of 27:39.6. Simon LaClair ’24 finished 64th overall with a time of 28:07.0, and Jason Cirrito was not far behind in 71st with a time of 28:13.8. The seventh place team finish is tied for the second best finish at the rRegional meet in program history. The Mideast region was deep this year, with its top four teams all earning a bid to the NCAA National Championships later this week.
Women’s Cross Country | Nov. 12 | NCAA Mideast Regional Championships
The women’s cross country team trekked up to St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships this past weekend. The Brewers placed sixth overall out of 21 teams with a score of 184, just one spot shy of the five teams who qualified for the NCAA National Championships. It was the second best finish at the regional meet in program history. The Brewers were led by Augusta Stockman ’23, who finished 12th overall with a time of 23:01.2, earned All-Region honors for finishing in the top 35 and earned an individual qualification for the NCAA National Championships. The next Brewer up was Clara Wiesler ’23, who finished 37th, just outside of All-Region honors, with a time of 24:09.1. Not far behind her was Noni Pattington ’25, who finished 42nd with a time of 24:18.5. Right behind her was Anika Mueller-Hickler ’26 who finished 44th overall with a time of 24:19.4 to cap off her impressive rookie campaign. Vassar’s final scorer was Anna Kaigle ’25, who finished 49th with a time of 24:25.6. Rounding out the top seven were Sophia Henderson ’25 and Amaavi Miriyagalla ’24 who finished 58th and 105th with times of 24:45.6 and 26:52.3 respectively. The Brewers were propelled to their strong team score not only by their star senior Stockman, but also by the formidable pack of their 2-5 runners, all four of whom finished within just 16 seconds of each other.
Men’s Soccer | Nov. 12-13 | NCAA Championship Tournament
The Vassar men’s soccer team saw its magical season come to an end with a heartbreaking defeat to Bowdoin College in the NCAA Tournament in penalty kicks this past Sunday. A day earlier, in the opening round of the tournament, Vassar narrowly edged out 13th-ranked Babson College in penalty kicks. The opening round match saw a scoreless first half followed by a Babson goal early in the second half. With their season on the line, the Brewers were able to tie it up in the 68th minute off of a goal by Owen Fauth ’23. Vassar’s defense and goalie Eric Wnorowski ’23 kept Babson from getting in the net again throughout the rest of the second half and two overtime periods. With the score still knotted up at 1-1, the game was forced into penalty kicks to decide the winner. The Brewers won the shootout 3-1 with goals from Duncan Keker ’25, Kyle Lopes ’23 and Julian Funaro ’25 to advance to the second round of the tournament. In the second round, eighth-ranked Bowdoin got on the board first with the only goal of the first half to make it a 1-0 game. After many tense minutes of play that saw both teams nearly score goals, Vassar finally tied it up off of a penalty kick score from Keker. Again, the Brewers fought through two scoreless overtime periods to send the 1-1 game into penalty kicks. Funaro made the first kick for the Brewers, but they were unable to net another penalty shot and Bowdoin ended up winning the shootout 4-1 to advance to the round of 16. Vassar finished its historic season with a 9-3-7 record.
XC Individual Qualifiers | NCAA National Championships
This past weekend at the NCAA Mideast Regional Cross Country Championships the Brewers not only had strong team performances from both the men’s and women’s teams, but they also saw some historic individual performances. Although neither team qualified for the NCAA National Championships, three individuals did: Augusta Stockman ’23, Miles Takiguchi ’24 and Aidan Mayer ’24. Stockman became the first woman in program history to reach NCAA Cross Country Nationals in three separate seasons (in 2019, as a first-year, she was a member of the first Vassar women’s cross country team to qualify for the Nationals and in 2021 she also qualified as an individual by placing 13th at the Mideast Regional Championship. In 2020 there were no Championships held due to COVID-19). Stockman achieved the historic feat by placing 12th overall at the 2022 Mideast Regional Championships in a time of 23:01.2. The way to qualify for Nationals as an individual is to be one of the top seven finishers at the Regional meet that is not a member of a qualifying team (Stockman was the third finisher on a non-qualifying team this season). On the men’s side, Takiguchi has now qualified for Nationals for the second year in a row. In 2021, he was a member of the first men’s team in program history to qualify for the Nationals (he was Vassar’s top finisher in 10th place at the Mideast Regional Championship), and this year he is going as an individual qualifier. Takiguchi placed 6th at the 2022 NCAA Mideast Regional Championship with a time of 25:39.1, the first finisher on a non-qualifying team this season. Also making his second consecutive appearance at Nationals is Mayer. Mayer was also a member of the 2021 Vassar men’s team that qualified for Nationals, and this season he earned himself an individual qualification with a 23rd place finish at the 2022 Mideast Regional Championship (the 6th overall finisher on a non-qualifying team) with a time of 26:23.2. Mayer, Takiguchi and Stockman all earned All-Region honors for their top 35 finishes at the meet. They will travel to the NCAA National Championships in Lansing, MI, this coming Saturday, Nov. 19.