After finishing fifth at the Mid-Atlantic Regional race Saturday, the men's cross country team's chance for a bid to the NCAA Championships and its only opportunity to continue its season seems just out of reach. Despite the disappointing season finale, the team keeps running straight into the indoor track season. With a new focus for the runners, Princeton is emphasizing team growth and individual successes.
"Our first reaction is to be a little disappointed," junior Wes Stockard said. "But we've made great leaps and bounds as a team."
Stockard's performance at the Mid-Atlantics Saturday is one of the sources of the team's continued enthusiasm. Stockard, who finished 17th individually — first among Princeton runners — brought the team to its fifth-place finish overall.
Leader of the pack
Despite never having finished lower than third for the team this season, this was Stockard's first experience as the front runner.
"This was a breakthrough race for me," Stockard said. "I'd like to think it's the result of a season's worth of hard work, that it's the culmination of a continuous process."
"Wes has looked good in practice for the last month," said freshman Tristan Colangelo, who finished third for the team and 31st overall. "He has been one of our most consistent runners. This week he just took things a little further."
Behind Stockard, the team was also able to run as a pack, which has been its strategy throughout the season. Senior Pat Anglin led the group, finishing second for the Tigers and 30th overall. Close on his heels were Colangelo and senior Biren Roy in 33rd. Freshman Ryan Teising rounded out the top five Tigers with a 36th-place finish.
"The pack of guys all ran solidly and right at the front," Stockard said. "They just weren't quite as far forward as we would have liked."
Bright future
Teising and Colangelo, both freshmen on the team, are another source of optimism and the it will count on this duo to keep them competitive through the coming months. Both have finished in the top five for Princeton in almost every meet this fall. The highlights for each were Teising's first-place finish for the team at the Heptagonal Championships and Colangelo's second-place result at the Iona Meet of Champions in October.
"This has been a great learning experience for me," Colangelo said. "I'm happy just to accept this and then go and win it next year."
Long shot
While the team has accumulated some NCAA points for an at-large bid by beating some of the teams receiving automatic bids, there are other teams ahead of them who performed better in the district race.
Only the teams finishing first and second receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships, which has been one of Princeton's goals throughout the season. But even after finishing fifth Saturday out of the 25-team Mid-Atlantic Regional race, the Tigers refuse to accept total defeat.
"We're disappointed not to have an automatic spot, but we're an on-the-bubble team," Stockard said. "We're just on the bad side of the bubble."
Regardless of whether or not the team earns a spot at the NCAA meet, the Tigers are determined to remain positive and work hard, not allowing themselves to dwell on what could have been.
"I love running," Colangelo said. "And maybe I like running on the track better anyway."
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