XC ran against wet weather in Williamstown

Author: Livingston Burgess

The Middlebury men's and women's cross country teams ran at the NESCAC championship meet on Oct. 27 in Williamstown, Mass., garnering sixth and fourth place finishes respectively. Both squads were paced by veteran harriers who showed they had their sights set on success going deeper into the postseason.

On the women's side, Alexandra Krieg '09 continued to build her case as one of the top runners in the conference as she finished fifth in a time of 22:26.2 for the six-kilometer women's course. Of the top five finishers, only Krieg and Bowdoin first-year Yasmine White were not seniors.

Krieg was 30 seconds off the pace of the overall winner, Amherst senior Heather Wilson. The Amherst women took four of the top 10 places for a commanding 37-point performance. Williams was second with 77, Bowdoin third with 109, and Middlebury's ladies eked out 124, enough to beat Colby by one and Tufts by two.

The other top finishers for the women included Amanda Lee '11 (26th, 23:47), Ceara Danaher '08 (31st, 23:55), Kate Hirschboeck '08 (36th, 23:58), Sophia Spring '11 (40th, 24:00), Erin Toner '11 (55th, 24:25) and Sarah Norton '08 (59th, 24:31).

The men's sixth-place finish was highlighted by captain Jimmy Butcher's '08 performance, finishing seventh in a very tight chase pack that followed the winner, Hamilton first-year Peter Kosgei (25:52), on the 8K course. Butcher ran a time of 26:39.

"I felt the best that I have all season and can definitely feel my legs starting to come back to me," Butcher said.

Butcher had plenty of company near him. Only nine seconds separated fifth through 14th places, and four other runners were within two seconds of Butcher's time.

Middlebury's other finishers were Rainey Johnson '09 (43rd, 27:46), Mike Waters '10 (44th, 27:46), Jack Wambach '09 (48th, 27:50), Pete Murphy '09 (54th, 28:00), Nat Nelson '11, (58th, 28:06) and Victor Guevara '10 (64th, 28:13).

"Rainey Johnson had a stellar performance, stepping up when it was needed to pick up some valuable places," said Butcher, who felt that the team was in a better position than Saturday's results would indicate.

Torrential rains on race day wreaked havoc on the course and the runners. The same storm that battered Middlebury was afflicting Williamstown, and Butcher described the team's showing as "a solid performance on a sloppy day."

Both squads have their sights set on the NCAA regional meet on Nov. 10, where they will attempt to qualify for the national Division III championship meet, which the women won last year. This week, they will rest their top runners, when the team runs at the East Coast Athletic Conference championships.

"[Regionals]," said Butcher "is the race that we've been eyeing as a team since the beginning of the summer."