Panther cross country strikes gold at home Men's and women's teams run past NESCAC foes while earning team titles

Author: Jon Brand

The conditions for the first meet of the season were far from ideal, but that did not hamper the fine performance turned in by the Middlebury men's and women's cross country teams. Both squads raced to first place finishes on a drizzly, overcast Saturday in the Xth Middlebury Invitational.

Sophomore Jimmy Butcher led the men's team to its first win of the season, finishing 29 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Senior co-captain Nolan Sandygren and junior Will McDonough both finished in the top five. The Panthers held off St. Lawrence to take the team title, but were without the services of senior co-captain Garrett Kuzzy as he is recovering from an ankle injury.

Kuzzy, who last year became the first Middlebury men's runner since Robbie Pederson in 1991 to qualify for the NCAA Championships, is excited about the possibilities for this season. "Last year was basically realizing and helping realize that it's possible to qualify," Kuzzy said of an NCAA berth, "and this year hopefully more guys will realize we can do it."

The team finished its season last year with a 7th place finish in the NCAA Regional, and only three runners left the team after graduation. A qualifying berth in the NCAA championships is the ultimate goal for this year's team, but it wants to focus on performance in the NESCAC as well. Co-Captain Baker Lyon '06, who finished in 13th place on Saturday, defined what would be improvement over last year. "If we were [to finish] in the top three teams in NESCAC, that's huge," Lyon said.

The women took advantage of the familiar course as well, finishing first overall in the team category in front of St. Lawrence and Plattsburgh. The Panthers dominated the competition, as all 17 runners finished in the top 24 spots. Junior Andrea Giddings paced the Panthers with her second place finish, just two seconds off of the lead.

The women's team hopes to duplicate its performance from a season ago when it won the NCAA Regional and placed second overall at the NCAA Championships behind Williams. The team will surely miss the experience of last year's co-captains Marissa Crawley and Jessica Manzer, who both placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships last fall, but will be led by senior co-captains Claire Anderson, Kelsey Rinehart and Jenny Jorvig.

The heart of the season starts this Saturday, when both squads travel south to open the NESCAC schedule at the Williams Invitational. With much of the same teams appearing in this meet, the Panthers are certainly hoping for the same results on both the men's and women's sides. There is little doubt that these Middlebury speedsters will perform well; however, it is always difficult to beat a team on their familiar home course. After this week's confidence boosting outing, these runners are looking strong and are looking to dominate.