No. 21 Yale looms large for women's cross country this weekend at H-Y-P's

People always come running for two-for-one deals, a fact attested to by the long line running out the door at Thomas Sweets on Two for Tuesdays.

But when the Yale women's cross-country team took on twin runners Kate and Laura O'Neill, it had no idea what a bargain it got.

The junior duo led Yale to a seventh-place finish in the NCAA championships last year and both were named to the All-American team in the process. Earlier this season, the twins led the Bulldogs to a fourth-place finish out of 22 teams at the Iona Meet of Champions, where Yale finished just one point behind Ivy-rival Cornell.

Of the 238 runners, Kate O'Neill finished third and Laura O'Neill was 12th. In addition to the twins, the Bulldogs have returned five of their top seven runners from 2000 and started out the fall campaign ranked as the No. 7 team in the country.

This is what Princeton must face as it heads into this weekend's H-Y-P meet.

"Yale started the season ranked at No. 7," sophomore Emily Kroshus said. "We're unranked. Obviously on paper at this point in the season and based on the results of last year, we're not even close. However, beating them has been our goal all along, and if every girl in our top five runs to their fitness tomorrow, I think we have an outside chance."

Since the beginning of the year, Yale has fallen from their No. 7 ranking down to No. 21. While the Bulldogs are still a formidable opponent, the drop helps put them in the beatable category.

"Yale really took it on the chin this weekend by losing to Boston College, Boston University and Cornell," head coach Peter Farrell said.

"So they are not as strong as their preseason projection. I think we're a little stronger than our preseason projection. We're looking very good in practice, we're gelling as a team and we have very little of the injury bug that hit us last year."

If practices are going well, then competitions are going even better.

On Sept. 22, Princeton competed in the Central Connecticut Invitational, finishing first out of eight teams. Thus far, neither the Bulldogs nor the Crimson have won an invitational.

At the invitational, Kroshus was the leading force for the Tigers, winning the race with a time of 17:43.6, but four other Tigers fought their way into the top 10. Senior Catherine Casey was next for Princeton in sixth place, senior Emily Eynon followed in eighth and sophomore Pilar Marin was 10th.

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"It's going to be about depth," Eynon said. "I think its all a matter of us getting our runners in between their runners. Their one and two runners can win the meet, but if we can get our next five runners [across the finish line] before theirs, then we can win. Everyone matters, not just the top two finishers."

While Yale is the team to beat in the competition, the Crimson cannot be overlooked.

"You don't want to count Harvard out," Farrell said. "I don't project them to be as competitive with us as Yale, but you never know."

Harvard goes into this weekend with more meets under its belt then either Yale or Princeton. The Crimson have finished in the top half at every meet, coming in third out of 17 teams at the Fordham Invitational, third of eight at the Boston College Invitational and ninth out of 22 teams at the Iona Meet of Champions.

But despite its early-season success, Harvard is still clearly the underdog as it comes head to head with Princeton and Yale this weekend.

Yale needs to re-establish itself after the loss to Cornell. For Princeton, this weekend is a chance to maintain its flawless record and show that they are just as good as the Bulldogs, no matter how things look on paper.