ATTLEBORO, Mass. — 

Paul Hobbs (Vacaville, Calif.) and Brendan Fant (East Lyme, Calif.) earned All-Conference honors while leading the U.S. Coast Guard Academy men's cross country team to fourth place at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men's Cross Country Championship at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts on Saturday.

"It's been a long time since we've had multiple men earn All-Conference," says Greg Ahnrud, Head Coach of the Coast Guard cross country program, "and the last time we did, the conference was not nearly as strong as it is now."

Taking the title again this season was Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who scored 20 points en route to winning their 27th straight NEWMAC championship. Placing second was Worcester Polytechnic Institute with 60 points, and in third was Babson College with 83.

The top 14 runners at the championship meet are selected for the All-NEWMAC list, and Hobbs and Fant were both first-timers for the honor thanks to their performances this year. Hobbs capped off his conference career by placing fifth overall in 25:31. It was the first time since his freshman year that he ran the Highland Park course, but Hobbs' time was a full two minutes faster than his effort at the 2022 championship.

"This wasn't Paul's fastest race of the year," says Ahnrud, "but it was his best so far. About 15 men were out in the lead pack, but by the second mile, only eight were still there."

"Paul did his best to stay smooth and relaxed. While he couldn't quite match the movement from the top four guys when they began surging at 3.5 miles, he was able to keep the pressure on the rest of the athletes from the lead pack and pull away on the uphill finish."

Fant finished the course in 26:12, good for 13th place. He started out in the lead group of 10-15 runners and was able to stay strong in the second half of the course, holding off some late pushes from the other athletes in the final two miles to stay in the All-Conference area.

James Kuduk (Harleysville, Pa.) was also noteworthy, running a smart and even race and making around 20 passes from the second mile to the finish. He placed near the top 14 for All-Conference in 21st overall with a time of 26:35.

Freshman Graham Fenn (Hyattsville, Md.) and sophomores Miles Taylor (Austin, Tex.), Carlos Garcia (Bristow, Va.), and Malachi Morris (Chino Hills, Calif.) were the Bears' fourth-through-seventh finishers, running respective times of 27:11, 27:38, 27:39, and 28:08.

"This was an excellent day for our men," says Ahnrud. "Babson has been well ahead of us at our prior meets, and to be just seven points off of them is equally frustrating and indicative of how well the guys raced today."

Next up in the Bears men's cross country team's postseason plans in the D3 Challenge, hosted by Connecticut College at Stenger Farm Park in nearby Waterford, Connecticut.

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