Though the men's team has hogged all the attention when it comes to Princeton cross country, it may not be long before the women's team steps out of the shadows and competes for control of track talk on campus.
The main thing to be said about the women's cross country team is that they are a group on the rise.
The squad looks to challenge Brown this year for top honors in the Heptagonal Championships, which includes the eight Ivy League teams and Navy. The Tigers finished a sour sixth last year at Heps and have not won the event since 1980. The Bears, however, won Heps last year and finished an impressive ninth overall in the NCAA Championships.
High hopes
With many experienced runners returning and an outstanding freshman recruiting class, the goals are still set high for Princeton.
"We want to win Heps and make it to Nationals," senior co-captain Jen Cannistra said.
Five of the Tigers' top seven competitors return from last year's team that placed fourth out of 22 teams in the NCAA District II meet. Top returnees include senior Carrie Miller — who led the team in that race with a 14th place finish — juniors Emily Eynon and Holly Huffman, and the other co-captains, senior Kristi Rosso and junior Catherine Casey.
Despite this strong group of returning runners, the biggest contributors to this year's team may be the freshmen, who led the women's team to its domination of LaSalle and the College of New Jersey at their first home meet Saturday.
Five of Princeton's top eight in that race were freshmen. The Tigers' recruiting class includes Canadian junior champ, Emily Kroshus — who was also recruited by Stanford, the top ranked college cross-country team among NCAA Division I college teams.
"Emily Kroshus is one of the better runners in North America," head coach Peter Farrell said. "She's a bona fide international competitor."
At this weekend's dual meet, Kroshus coasted through the course, looking relaxed and smiling while other runners winced in pain. Instructed to hold back during the first mile, she stayed at the front of the pack and then rocketed to a wide lead, eventually winning by more than 20 seconds.
"In high school, I started out really fast," Kroshus said. "It was a learning run. I ran the first mile slow and then went faster."
Her time of 17 minutes, 58 seconds for the five-kilometer course on the Princeton Battlefield is the fourth fastest time ever run by a Princeton woman on that course.
Kroshus was followed by Eynon in third, Casey in fourth and freshman Pilar Marin in fifth. Overall, the Tigers destroyed their opponents, placing seven runners in the top nine spots.
Hard to replace
Despite the new stars, Princeton has lost three key runners for this season. Cannistra, a significant contributor throughout her junior year, is out for most of the season with a torn plantar fascia she injured last spring. In addition, the Tigers lost Karen O'Neill '00 and four-year team leader Courtney Ebersole '00 to graduation.
"Ebersole's going to be tough to replace," Farrell said. "She was a solid number one or two girl during all four years."
The Tigers have remained strong, however, placing second to Duke in their first meet — the Fordham Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., the same course where the Heps are run. Without any freshmen, the team beat Harvard, which finished fifth last year at Heps, by more than 50 points.
The team will have another shot at Van Cortlandt Park in two weeks when it competes in the Iona Invitational and when it faces Harvard and Yale for the H-Y-Ps Oct. 6.
Read More
Tigers win Ivy League Softball Tournament to get automatic NCAA tournament bid
Andrew BosworthAfter four games, three of which were against the Harvard Crimson, the Princeton softball team prevailed on Saturday to win the 2024 Ivy League Softball Tournament, earning themselves a bid to the NCAA tournament.
After four games, three of which were against the Harvard Crimson, the Princeton softball team prevailed on Saturday to win the 2024 Ivy League Softball Tournament, earning themselves a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Baseball clinches spot in Ivy League Tournament in series versus Columbia
Ify Obianwu and Joseph UglialoroNow, Princeton is likely going to face the Cornell Big Red in the upcoming Ivy League Tournament, unless the Yale Bulldogs can supplant them in next weekend’s games.
Now, Princeton is likely going to face the Cornell Big Red in the upcoming Ivy League Tournament, unless the Yale Bulldogs can supplant them in next weekend’s games.
Princeton men’s lacrosse rolls past Penn to claim back-to-back Ivy League Tournament Titles
Lily PampolinaPrinceton will now play the seventh-seed Maryland Terrapins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament next weekend, looking to avenge last year's first round tournament loss.
Princeton will now play the seventh-seed Maryland Terrapins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament next weekend, looking to avenge last year's first round tournament loss.
