Runners ready themselves for upcoming state meet

Author: Dan Berkman

Conditions were ideal, with clear blue skies and temperatures in the high 60s as Middlebury's men and women's cross country teams rode their first place finishes last week into Williams, for the Purple Valley Classic.

The men's team finished fourth overall and the women's team finished third as the completion was much stronger than the previous week. Both teams faced Williams, their first NESCAC foe of the season, as well as Dickinson (Pa.) and Southern Connecticut, among other schools. Although the team scores were not ideal, results are not as important this early in the season as improving individual times and teamwork.

On the men's side, senior captains Nolan Sandygren and Garret Kuzzy, two of the team's top runners sat out due to injury, which allowed some of the underclassmen to step up. Jimmy Butcher '08 maintained a fast pace throughout the race and took sixth place overall with an outstanding time of 26:37. Coming in seventh place overall and second on the team was Will McDonough '07 with a time of 26:51, in what Assistant Coach Nicole Wilkerson called "the best race of his career."

First-year Dan Kaufman came in third for the team with a time of 27:45, with Jack Wambach '09 and Peter Murphy '09 pacing one another for fourth and fifth places on the team, with times of 27:51 and 27:52, respectfully.

After running only 5k in high school, the freshmen are showing they are adjusting well to 8k races in college and are expected to improve even more as the season progresses. Butcher noted the competition "provided the team with a great opportunity to race against some of the best runners in the nation. That should certainly pay dividends as the season starts to reach a climax in November."

The women's team not only had the strong defending D-III champion Williams team to compete with, but a surprisingly good Dickinson squad as well in the 5k race. Three runners finished in the top 10 and seven runners in the top 25.

Andi Giddings '07 set a fast pace from the beginning and came in third overall with a time of 19:05. Makely Lyon '07 and Alexandra Krieg '09 teamed up together in the last leg of the race to finished in eight and ninth place overall with times of 19:16. Coming in a tight pack for fourth and fifth place on the team was captain Kelsey Rinehart '06 and Erin Archard '07 with times of 20 minutes flat and 20:02. Not too far behind were captains Jenny Jorvig '06 and Claire Anderson '06 for sixth and seventh on the team with times of 20:13 and 20:15.

By running in a tight pack, the runners can work well together to push each other faster and displace runners on other teams. Overall the girls like the way they are racing as a team so far this year. "We were a lot closer to Williams than we were last year and the team gets stronger and stronger with every meet, so by the end of the season we should be right up there," Jorvig said.

This Saturday, Oct. 1, both the men's and women's team will host the Vermont State Meet in which both teams have dominated in recent years. It is the first time in five years the Panthers have hosted the meet and it will be the last home meet of the season. The women will race at 12:30 p.m. and the men at 1:30 p.m.