Cross Country Teams Take First Place Finishes in State Meet

The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams displayed their state-wide dominance by placing first in the Vermont State Championship held at Lyndon State College on Saturday, Sept. 29. Both teams won the eight and nine-team fields for the women and men, respectively by a sizeable margin, with almost all the runners finishing in the top 15 in both races. The victory came days after the women were ranked fourth nationally, and the men were ranked 12th nationally on Sept. 26th by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.

The women’s race was highlighted by the performance of sophomore runner Katie Carlson ’15 who finished first in the 5K women’s race with a time of 20:21.6. Carlson, however, was not alone in her top finish as the women took each of the top seven place finishes out of the 71-woman race.

On the men’s side, Nate Sans ’14 placed first in the 86-man race with a time of 28:23.4, followed by teammate Greg Karthwhol ’14 who placed third in the race with a time of 28:30.1. Similar to the women, the men dominated the top finishes of the race placing 12 of the team’s runners in the top 15.

Both the men’s and women’s commanding performances came without the help of several top upperclassmen runners for both sides. Senior captains Emily Atwood ’13 and Kate Rominger ’13 and previous NESCAC Performer of the Week Addie Tousley ’13 were all missing from the women’s race while senior captains Patrick Hebble ’13 and Jack Davies ’13 along with a few other Panther runners were missing from the men’s race. These racers were sitting out of the perennially Middlebury dominated state race in order to recover from an intense four week start to the season.

“The team’s performance speaks to [its] depth and ability to rely on younger runners in order to adequately rest those that need a break,” commented coach Nicole Wilkerson on the success of the younger and less experienced Middlebury runners.

The tournament win is another indication that both the men’s and women’s team are on the right path towards getting themselves ready for a successful postseason, now less than a month away.

Middlebury will race Saturday, Oct. 6, in the Westfield State Invitational held in Westfield, Mass. The race will include 31 different schools across all tree NCAA Divisions, giving the Panthers a good opportunity to test themselves against top-flight competition.

“We are really looking forward to the bigger meet this coming Saturday,” Wilkerson said. “It will not only give us an opportunity to see the course at Westfield State, where we will compete again for the Division III New England Regional Championships in November but the competition [with teams from Division I and II] will be fun.