Women’s cross country turns in historic finish

This weekend, the Panthers competed in the Open New England Championships. The race took place in Boston, where the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed along with 46 other teams. This event included schools from all three divisions, and is usually dominated by D-I teams.

Despite the intensity of the competition, the Panthers once again had a phenomenal day. The team captured one of the highest places Middlebury has ever taken at New Englands, finishing third overall. The women ran a 5K race, with Amanda Lee ’11 finishing first for Middlebury in a time of 18:17, good enough for 24th place overall.

Just behind her was Colette Whitney ’14 in 26th and Madie Hubbell ’14 in 30th, continuing the Panther tradition of running in a tight pack. Addie Tousley ’13 also finished strong, in 38th place, as did teammates Claire McIIvennie ’12, who took 45th, Katie Rominger ’14 who came in 72nd and Emily Attwood ’14 (91st). Coach Aldrich was thrilled with the performance of his women’s team at New Englands.

“To finish ahead of all but two of the D-I schools in New England was phenomenal. What made the women’s performance even more impressive was that four of our top seven in the varsity race were first-year runners who ran with the maturity, confidence and poise of seniors. The race was very fast, and our top five women averaged significantly faster than last year’s team.”

According to Aldrich, the men’s race was good, but could have gone better.

“This race was not even close to being indicative of the ability of [the men’s] team,” said Aldrich. He cited the caliber of the competition, an extremely fast start and running too conservatively as things that may have hindered the Panther men from displaying their full prowess on the course this weekend.

However, he is optimistic for the Panthers’ performance in the weeks ahead, and is confident that the men will be able to improve upon these things and see significant progress in their championship races at the end of the year.

The Panther first-years did very well in the race, securing three of the top seven Middlebury finishes. The team finished ninth in the D-III division and 24th overall.  The men ran an 8K race, and Michael Schmidt ’12 was the first Panther across the line with a time of 24:54, taking 12th place overall.

Behind him was Greg Krathwohl ’14 in 130th, Nate Sans ’14 in 140th and Jack Davies ’13 close behind in 142nd. Rounding out the top seven were Sam Miller ’12 in 172nd, Leif Castern ’14 in 212th and Patrick Hebble ’13 in 225th. Schmidt’s time, according to Aldrich, is one of the fastest individual finishes in Middlebury’s history.

“In the men’s race, Schmidt ran an exceptional race, posting one of the top individual finishes in our school’s history. His race was one of the single most impressive individual performances I have witnessed in my 36 years at Middlebury.”

Up next for the Panthers is the Albany Invitational on Oct. 16.