Cross Country Teams Both Finish in Top Three

The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams raced in the Purple Valley Classic this weekend, held at Mt. Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass. The men’s cross country team, with a pre-race ranking of nine out of the 15-team field placed second overall behind Williams, while the women’s team placed third overall in the 17-team field, behind Williams and MIT. This performance comes a week after the men’s and women’s overall victory in the Aldrich Invitational, Middlebury’s only home meet of the season.

The highlight of the women’s cross country six-kilometer race was the performance of Middlebury senior Addie Tousley ’13, who placed first overall out of a 215-woman field with a time of 21:50. This victory comes days after Tousley placed first in the Aldrich Invitational, and subsequently was named NESCAC Performer of the Week for her display.

Other notable efforts from the women’s competition at Purple Valley include Kate Rominger ’14 and Lucy Whipps ’14 finishing in fifth and 21st place, respectively.

The men’s cross country team, which placed second, was led by co-captain Patrick Hebble ’13, who placed third overall in the 208-man field.

Hebble ran the eight-kilometer race with a time of 26:20, averaging a 5:18 mile throughout the race. This performance was complemented by an eighth-place finish from senior co-captain Jack Davies ’13 who finished with a time of 26:34.

Davies’ performance comes two weeks after being named NESCAC Performer of the Week on Sept. 10, a result of his strong  showing in the Dartmouth Invitational against Dartmouth and Syracuse.

Other top runners in the Purple Valley Classic included Kevin Wood ’15, Anthony Lee ’13 and Greg Krathwohl who finished 21st, 22nd and 23rd overall, respectively.

After finishing at the bottom of the three-team field at the season-opening Dartmouth Classic, the performances at the Purple Valley Classic from the men’s and women’s cross country teams are further indications that both groups are back on track towards having successful seasons.

“The team was generally pleased with how we finished overall, although many on the team felt as though they needed to work on their individual performance,” Hebble said. “Coming after four of our hardest weeks of the season, it was impressive that we were able to place second. I think this says a lot about our team’s depth this year.”

The recent success can be attributed to leadership from veteran, upperclassmen runners on both the men’s and women’s teams.

For the men’s team, however, Hebble believes that the upcoming Vermont State Meet at Lyndon State College this Saturday Sept. 29, will give some of the younger runners an opportunity to lead the team as many of the upperclassmen runners will rest this week.

The cross country teams swept the State Meet with a similar strategy last year, resting many of their top runners in preparation for NESCACs in October.