Yale outruns women's cross-country, Harvard lags behind both

Spectators at the Princeton Battlefield on Saturday may have thought they were seeing double. Yale's All-American twins, Kate and Laura O'Neill, came across the finish line just a few seconds apart to take first and second place in the 26th annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton women's cross country meet.

Yale, currently ranked No. 21 nationally, won the meet with 21 points. Princeton, coming in second with 42 points, was led by sophomore Emily Kroshus in third place and senior Catherine Casey in fourth. Harvard finished third with 71 points.

It was a morning for setting records — all of Saturday's top five finishers ran top-ten times for the Battlefield course. Kate O'Neill displaced Princeton's Kristen Beaney '94 to set a new course record of 17 minutes, 19.5 seconds, and Laura O'Neill, at 17:25.1, joined the top-ten list at No. 3.

Kroshus, at 17:41.6, and Casey, at 17:46.7, had the secondand third-fastest all-time course finishes for Princeton runners, moving Melissa Lockman '95, Jen Goette '96, and Kroshus's 2000 finish down a few spots.

At the start of the race, Harvard came out in a pack ahead of both Yale and Princeton, making for a slow first mile. The Tigers had been prepared for such a start.

"We were expecting Yale to move out in the second mile, and we wanted to be ready to go with them," said Casey. "When they made their move, we tried to hang with them as much as we could."

The order of finish was more or less established in the second mile. Harvard predictably fell behind as Yale's runners began to push ahead. Princeton was unable to stay in front of the Elis, just as Kroshus was unable to get in front of the O'Neill twins.

Kroshus had discussed with coach Peter Farrell that she might need to let the O'Neills keep the lead for most of the race. Instead she made her move early, taking the lead right before the mile mark. The O'Neills, never far behind, stepped ahead about halfway through the second mile and stayed there until the finish.

"[Kroshus] made a move too soon, a little early," said Farrell. "She needs to gain confidence in racing them and let them do the work for a change."

Kroshus also thought she could have done better. Back on the course after an injury last year kept her out of most competition, though, she is glad to be improving over last season instead of moving backward. "Those girls are good, and I definitely want to beat them at some point this year. But I'm running better than last year, and as long as I continue progressing, as long as it's an upward course, I'll get where I want to be," Kroshus said.

In addition to Kroshus and Casey, Princeton got high finishes from senior Emily Eynon in eighth place and sophomore Rebecca Snyder in 12th. Harvard had only one top-10 finish, at no. 9. Yale runners took six of the top ten spots — the O'Neills were followed by teammates at fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth place.

Overall, Farrell said, it was "a tough race. [Yale] maximized being here on our course, and it hurts to have them do so well on our course."

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Nevertheless, he was optimistic about the team's future. "We've got a ways to go," he said. "This was only our second meet, and some of our girls are still learning how to compete out there."

Casey, whose performance was praised by teammates and coach alike, echoed Farrell's assessment. "I think the team really competed well today," she said. "The way we competed shows that [Yale's] not out of our league, and we still haven't run to our potential. This should give us confidence going into later meets."