M. cross country looks to defend Heps crown; women hope for improvement

Both the men's and women's cross country teams are up against tough competition today at the Heptagonal League Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, N.Y. The women must pull themselves together to face down three teams ranked in the Top 25 nationally. For the men's team, however, the competition is mostly against themselves.

When the gun fires today for the men's race, every team and individual in the five-mile race will be gunning for Princeton. As teams aim for Princeton, the Tigers will be aiming to become the first team to capture four consecutive Heps cross country crowns since Dartmouth won eight straight from 1984 to 1991.

Coming off last spring's triple triple-crown — in which the Tigers won the Heps in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track for the third consecutive year — Princeton is the clear favorite in the team race.

Tough road

Though the Tigers grabbed first and second individual places in the race last year, the team will have to use a different strategy this time around if it hopes to defend its title. Last year's Heps champion junior Paul Morrison remains sidelined with a knee injury while runner-up Michael Spence '00 graduated last spring.

This year, Princeton has an extremely tight pack. All nine runners who will compete in the varsity race have broken 26 minutes this year and have been within 30 seconds of each other in previous races.

Columbia looks to be Princeton's biggest challenger in the team race as the top squad at the pre-national meet two weeks ago. Second last year, Dartmouth could also factor in.

The women's cross country team has been waiting all season to have one big race — where no one is injured and everyone runs at their potential. They've been waiting for the one where everything would finally come together.

They've been to Heps before, and they've already seen these teams — the Tigers know what they're getting into. And all week they've been doing their best to maximize their potential — they've been resting.

In addition to sleeping, the team has been tapering its practices so that it can be fresh for the race. But the team is not neglecting its mental state. The Tigers have been working to get each other psyched up.

"We're really excited about this meet," junior Catherine Casey said. "It's a spirited meet with team colors everywhere. This week has been really motivational."

Despite all its efforts to prepare, the race will not be easy for Princeton. Three Top 25 teams will be running, including Yale, which is in the top 10. Brown, the defending Heps champion, is currently in the top 20 and has recently come off a strong showing at the pre-NCAA meet.

But the Tigers have reliable leadership in junior Emily Eynon, and they're counting on her to show them the way.

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The team is also counting on freshman Emily Kroshus, who won the Princeton Invitational and finished third at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet, to compete well.

"There's some really fast girls in this race who have already beaten me," Kroshus said. "I need to be tough. I don't feel like I have been yet."

But the Tigers aren't worrying about missed chances in the past or times when they didn't perform optimally. They're determined to stay positive about the race tomorrow.

"We are still confident about our chances," Farrell said yesterday. "We've taken our lumps, and we haven't yet maximized our potential. Tomorrow's the day."