XC represents at Open NE's

Author: Dan Berkman

Conditions were less than ideal last Saturday as the men and women's cross country teams traveled down to Boston's Franklin Park for the All-Divisions Open New England Race. After heavy rains, the normally fast course was quite slick and muddy for the more than 300 runners who ran in both the men's and women's varsity races. The men's team finished a solid 15th place out of 47 teams and the women finished 10th of out 44 teams. This was the first race where both the men's and women's team squared off against all their NESCAC rivals which made it a good gauge of how Middlebury compares to other teams heading into the NESCAC race late in October.

The men's team was particularly pleased with their team result as they were projected to be 25th before the race. More importantly, this was the first race for the men with their full varsity team as senior captain Garret Kuzzy returned from an ankle injury which had sidelined him for the first few races. Captain Nolan Sandygren '06 commented, "There is a lot more to come from some of these guys and the depth of our team only makes us that more dangerous come NESCACs."

Jimmy Butcher '08 came in first for the men's team and 25th overall with a swift time of 25:46 which averages out to 5:16 minutes per mile over five miles. Sandygren came in second on the team and 72nd overall with a solid time of 26:36. Kuzzy quickly got back into his racing form with a quick time of 26:51. Coming in fourth on the team, Will McDonough '06 broke the 27:00 minute barrier by a second with a time of 26:59. Rounding out the top five was Pete Murphy '09 with a time of 27:08.

One of the men's team goals for the season is to earn a bid to Division III Nationals, an honor that is awarded to only three teams per region. With Tufts and Williams having very strong squads, one spot is relatively open in New England. The tough competition for this final spot is between Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan and Keene State. All four teams came within five places of each other at Boston and the Middlebury men believe they can make a strong case for themselves in the next few weeks to come.

The women came in a strong 10th place with the top five runners all coming in within 30 seconds of each other. First-year Alexandra Krieg led the charge with a time of 19:05 for the 5k race and placed 46th overall. Only five seconds behind was Evelyn Dong '07 with a time of 19:10, good for 52nd overall. Makely Lyon '07 and Andi Giddings '07 came in a second apart with times of 19:19 and 19:20, respectfully. Robyn Anderson '09 rounded out the women's scorers with a time of 19:33.

Despite being in such a big race, the women were able to work together by staying in a close knit pack. Claire Shultz '07 noted, "It was really good that there was a small amount of time between our top runners. That will only help our times and scores at smaller races like NESCACs." The women's team usually makes the National bid a yearly tradition. Yet this year they are going up against harder NESCAC competition in Williams, Amherst and Colby and it will be a tougher test to earn the bid.

Both the men's and women's teams race at the Albany Invitational next week on what is usually a fast course. The teams have a week off following that before the big NESCAC meet this year at Wesleyan. The men and women look forward to taking their strong performances in the past couple weeks through the rest of the month and into the postseason races.