Cross Country Teams Dominate Home Course

On Saturday, Sept. 14, the Middlebury Cross Country teams hosted the Aldrich Invite, the only home meet of the season. The women raced against teams from Norwich University and St. Michael’s College while the men only battled Norwich. The races saw both teams sweeping their competition convincingly. This year’s Aldrich Invite also featured alumni teams in the race.

The women kicked off the day with a strong win, scoring the fewest points they could with 15, as a lower score denotes a better position. Saint Michael’s scored 50 points for second while Norwich scored 84 to take third.

Alison Maxwell ’15 led the charge, winning the five-kilometer race in 18:28.  She was followed closely behind by Sarah Guth ’15, rookie Erzsie Nagy ’17, Kathereine Tercek ’16, Katie Rominger ’14 and Summer Spillane ’15, all finishing within 15 seconds of one another. The Panther ladies ran closely with one another through the first parts of the race until separating slightly in the final stages of the race.

Coach Nicole Wilkerson believed that the close finish shows how strong the team this year.

“[Saturday’s results] showed that we are capable of having a tight group finish within only a few seconds of each other,” said Wilkerson.

On the men’s side, Middlebury and Middlebury alumni swept the top 15 places, scoring 15 points to Norwich’s 50. Six-time All-American Jack Davies ’13 returned to his old stomping grounds to win his second Aldrich Invite, finishing the eight-kilometer race in 25:46. Behind Davies was a pack of his former teammates, comprising Kevin Wood ’15, Nate Sans ’14, Greg Krathwohl ’14 and Wilder Schaaf ’14.5. Wood crossed the finish line in 26:17 with his three teammates less than 10 seconds behind. Sam Cartwright ’16 finished in sixth place with 27:00 to round out the scorers for the Panthers.

The group of Davies, Wood, Sans, Krathwohl and Schaaf ran tightly for the first three miles. With two miles remaining in the race, Davies took off and gapped the pack. The Panthers displayed good discipline working together for the remainder of the race until stringing out slightly towards the very end.

Captain Schaaf was optimistic about the team’s performance and praised the runners’ composure.

“The team ran really well as a whole, everyone was able to find someone to run with and work off of,” Schaaf said. “[Davies] being there wasn’t much of a problem. You’re going to have some races now and then when a pro runner is going to come in and just throw down the gauntlet. It is in our responses to these situations that man shows its mettle.”

The Panthers travel to the Catskills next Saturday, Sept. 21, to race at Bard College before travelling to Williams the following weekend for the Purple Valley Invitational, facing their first encounter with NESCAC teams.

With larger fields looming, Wilkerson remains confident about her teams’ pack-running strategy.

“We will continue to hone that strategy through out the season, which will be more of a challenge when the fields are larger,” Wilkerson said. “From what I am seeing and what I know, we are going to have a great year with both squads.”