XC Women Dominate Panther Invitational

Author: Mike Mazzotta

Last Saturday, the Middlebury cross country team hosted the annual Panther Invitational and kicked off their season with an impressive debut. Both Amherst and Connecticut College were among the many teams that traveled to compete against the Panthers. And, despite intense training leading up to and through the meet, the Panthers gave an impressive showing.
The women's team picked up right where they left off last season. They convincingly won the meet by placing seven runners in the top nine. Senior co-captain Michela Adrian '03 won the 5K race in a time of 18:50 beating the closest competitor by seven seconds. Sarah Logan '03, Jess Manzer '05, Marisa Cawley '05, Kaitlin Gregg '03, Nora Segar '06 and Molly Yazwinski '04 also dominated the rest of the field taking places four through nine.
The team demonstrated its depth with strong performances by all runners. Senior co-captain Krista Evans '03 was jazzed about the team's performance and was overheard saying, "The team looked great today! Considering all of the training we have been doing, this looks like a promising start." Other team members shared similar feelings.
The Middlebury men's cross country team had a successful day by placing third behind two top ten New England teams, Amherst and Connecticut College. The men are coming off of their toughest preseason in years, and have managed to keep the momentum going through the first week of school. The team was within striking distance of first place, and it succeeded in placing five men in the top fifteen.
Marshall Greene '04 led the Panther men by capturing fourth place with a time of 28:10 over five miles. A strong rookie cast supported Greene. Garrot Kuzzy '06, Mike Accordino '06, Nolan Sandygren '06 and Jon Erwin '05 came in rounded out the scoring for Middlebury. Veterans Mike Mazzotta '03 and Nicky Digani '05 were the sixth and seventh Panthers, respectively. After the race, co-captain Mike Kirkland '03.5 said, "We knew we had a strong recruiting year, but today blew my mind. These new guys are staking their place in our program and I am loving every minute of it." Flabbergasted, Morgan Byrne '05 could only nod in approval. The men keep turning heads and are on the rise.
Marisa Cawley '04 and Jon Erwin '04 are the special interest runners of the week. Cawley and Erwin are both sophomores, but they ran in their first college cross country races this past weekend. Originally track stars specializing in middle distances, both Cawley and Erwin showed their versatility and made a successful transition to cross country. With no expectations hanging over their heads, they ran intelligently and came on strong at the end. They are part of the strong rookie class and will be exciting to watch develop as cross county runners this season.
This weekend the team will take its momentum to Williams where it looks forward to taking on an even stronger field. The race will be the Panther's first true test yet.