Despite difficult division, w. cross country hopeful

"Not really a rebuilding year, yet they lost several valuable members of the team."

"Could challenge for Heps, yet compete in one of the strongest leagues in the nation."

Discussing the women's cross country team at such an early point in the year is often an exercise in the liminal, with very little clear at this juncture in what could be either a breakout or disappointing season.

For example, though the Tigers lost comparatively few key runners to graduation, one of those they did lose was Catherine Casey '02.

Casey was easily one of Princeton's top three performers last year, and acted as a consistent point-scorer for the Tigers. This year, the Tigers will look to seniors such as Sarah Rivlin to step up and provide the leadership that Casey and the other members of the class of 2002 offered.

Also returning is junior Emily Kroshus, possibly the Tigers' best runner. The only Princetonian to compete in cross-country NCAAs last year, Kroshus finished first on the team in every race during the 2001-2002 season. Incidentally, the departed Casey placed second on the team in every race.

Cross-country is scored as a team sport, however, with the place numbers of each team's six allowed runners being added up to result in a team's final score. The team with the lowest combined score places first in any given meet. Thus, while having one or two superlative athletes is great, a team can rarely win without decent performances by everyone on the team.

Luckily for the Tigers, the squad's composition this year seems designed with such a team-focused result in mind.

In the season-opening race at the Princeton Battlefield, the Tigers finished in an astounding three-four-six-seven-eight-nine-ten group. Kroshus, freshman Meredith Lambert, Rivlin, junior Krystal Adler, junior Pilar Marin, sophomore Marian Birhle, and junior Kate Reid all crossed the finish line in the top ten.

Lambert and Birhle both offer a lot to the Tigers in their quest for a quality postseason. Lambert finished a scant four seconds behind Kroshus at the Battlefield in her first race at Princeton. Birhle, a sophomore, became sick partway through her freshman year and was thus unable to train and compete at full capacity. Back at full strength this year, she should be an important member of a deep Princeton team. If these two underclassmen can perform up to their potential this season, they will have a great impact on the Tigers' success.

Making Princeton's quest for a championship a little more difficult is the extremely high quality of its divisional opponents. The Heptagonal League saw five teams qualify for nationals last season and had the most at-large bids of any division in the northeast.

In order to have any significant hopes for postseason success, the Tigers will have to utilize the experience they will gain from running against some of the best teams around.

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"Proving ourselves against that kind of competition will be a good test for the rest of the season," said Kroshus. "Hopefully we can also get at-large points by running well against Ivy-league teams."

Although the Tigers will not have an easy road to a successful postseason, Kroshus is confident that they have the talent to get there.

"If everyone is able to stay healthy and train at a high level, I honestly believe we can qualify automatically for nationals," Kroshus said.

Thus, at this stage at least, the future of the Tigers' season is as much a question mark as the various factors that make it up.

Will the top senior and junior athletes perform as well as they should? Will the freshmen adjust to college running? Can Princeton maintain a competitive attitude in a tough division? All signs are positive so far, and the Tigers themselves possess the confidence to make things happen.