Thirds' the charm for cross country

Author: Sarah Bryan

The men's and women's cross country teams both finished third in the ECAC championships on Nov. 8 at Colt State Park in Bristol, R.I. 55 teams participated in Saturday's event, traveling from all over the East to race in one of the season's last meets, all hoping to earn a championship title. As the final race for many runners, including a few seniors, this weekend's meet was a continuation of the panther's great success as a cross country team.

"We've had a great season and have done well for ourselves in the championship races so far," said tri-captain Hallie Fox '09. "We all gave it our best a- it was a fun course and a big race."

The women's team scored 104 points, landing them third behind reigning champions Williams and Amherst. For the women's team, Sophia Spring '11 crossed the line third, finishing with a 6:22 mile pace (23:42 overall). Teammate Georgia Wright-Simmonds '12 followed Spring, finishing tenth overall with a time of 24:02. Kaitlyn Saldanha '11 and Jessi Stevens '12 ran not too far behind, crossing the line together at 24:52.

On the men's side, a solid pack of Middlebury runners took the 8k course with a fury, battling over 300 runners for top times. Victor Guerera '10 led the Panthers, finishing nineteenth at 27:15 and running at a 5:29 mile pace. Less than a minute behind lurked teammates Donny Dickerson '10 (27:33), who finished twenty-eighth, Chris Free '10 in thirty-first (27:37), Sam Miller '12 in thirty-second (27:40) and Nat Nelson '11 in thirty-fourth (27:41). As a team, the Panthers scored 144 points, trailing only Williams and Keene State.

Just seven runners competed for each team, and it was their last race of the season. For Fox and Dan Kauffman '09, this was their last race wearing a panther jersey. Kauffman finished his last race at a pace of 5:45, with a total time of 28:33. Fox crossed the line with a time of 25:04.

"We have a really young team and a lot of energy," said Fox. "It's been awesome working with these girls and to know our hard work has paid off. As a senior, I've seen a lot of teams, but this one really is one of the best."

Over the course of this season, the men's team has finished in the top six in all but one of its races. The women have also done extremely well, finishing either first or second in six of their eight races. With the possibility of only one race left to go, the teams are prepared to continue their winning trend.

On Nov. 15 both teams will take their top seven runners to the NCAA regional championships in Williamstown, Mass. On the men's squad, Bruce Hallett '10, Peter Hoffman '10, Rainey Johnson '09, Stanis Moody-Roberts '11, Michael Schmidt '12, Jack Terrett '11 and Jack Wambach '09 are running the 8k course.

For the women, Cate Brown '12, Alexandra Krieg '09, Claire McIlvennie '12, Hanna Meier '11, Elise Moody-Roberts '12 and Chelsea Ward-Waller '12 will wear the Middlebury blue for their 6k race. Both squads are looking to place high enough in the regionals to make it to the the NCAA Championships held in Hanover, Ind.