Jamaca Plain, MA-- MIT men's cross country opened the 2006 season with its 10th consecutive victory at the annual Engineer's Cup featuring WPI and RPI. Sophomore Jake Rusevick led an impressive 1-2-3-4 finish for the Cardinal and Gray, breaking the tape with a clip of 26:30.

Senior Kevin Brulois earned runner-up honors in the 8,000-meter circuit, out-dueling rookie Brandon Pung who just missed breaking the 27-minute barrier on the rolling and naturally slow course. Sophomore Joe Roy-Mayhew finished fourth overall after crossing the line one second back of Pung. Out of the first 19 finishers, 16 came from MIT.

Alex White led the way for the Crimson and Gray with a fifth place finish (27:03) while Paul Freitas ran to a 21st place spot (28:35). Other top finishers for the Eingeers included Kevin Jillson in 31st place, Chris McCann in 32nd place and Daniel Dufty in 34th place.

MIT finished with 17 points to claim the Cup, while RPI edged WPI after totaling 54 points. Worcester's version of the Engineers closed with 71 points to finish third.

On the Women's side, freshman Maria Monks took top honors in her first collegiate race, finishing first overall in the Engineer's Cup at famed Franklin Park. Monks' first-place effort paced the women's cross country team to its fifth straight victory at Tech's annual season-opener against NEWMAC rival WPI and RPI.

Monks trumped a great effort by RPI's second-place finisher Cathy Malloy, completing the tough 5K with a modest clip of 19:28 en route to the individual win. Fellow rookie Jacqui Wentz finished third for the Tech harriers in 19:49, while sophomore Jennifer Doyle also clipped the 20-minute barrier in a fourth-place effort.

RPI grabbed the fifth spot after which MIT finished sixth through ninth to seal the team victory. The Cardinal and Gray closed with 21 points to easily out distance RPI's total of 46 and WPI's final count of 72.

Top WPI finishers included Megan Murphy in 11th place (20:41), Amanda Learned in 12th (20:53), and Meghan Woods in 13th (21:05). Marissa Gray rounded out WPI's top twenty finishers with an 18th place finish (21:41) while Catie Casey came across the finish line in 22nd in a time of 22:53.  

WPI will travel to the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday for a 10:30 am start time.

Some information courtesy of MIT Sports Information