Men's cross country hopes to qualify for NCAAs at meet Saturday

All of the thousands of miles that have been logged by the men's cross country team come down to one thing: The Mid-Atlantic regional NCAA championship qualifying race Saturday morning in Davis, W. Va.

The mechanism for qualification is twofold: The nation is divided into nine geographic regions. Teams placing in the top two at their district meet are given an automatic bid to the national meet, while a handful of teams are afforded at-large bids based on how many teams they have beaten during the regular season, in head to head competition, that qualified automatically out of their region.

Princeton took all the right steps to secure at-large points. The Tigers traveled to the Gator Invitational in Florida to compete against teams from the weaker southern regions, notching wins over Florida, Florida State and Kentucky. They mixed it up at the pre-national meet in Terre Haute, Ind., placing tenth in a field of 30.

While a win over Dartmouth at the Heptagonal Championship, would have bolstered confidence, it would likely have done little to help the at-large cause as the North-East District, where the Big Green compete. The district also includes two strong probable auto qualifiers in Iona and Providence.

"Our at-large points don't look too good right now," senior Josh Ordway said. "Florida looks like the only team that has a chance to get us a point. LaSalle has a few potential points though, so if we knock them off, that will help our cause immensely. Basically, we need to shoot for one of the auto-bids, and if we don't get that, we have to hope for third and some upsets in other regions".

The Mid-Atlantic region features perennial powerhouses Villanova and Georgetown. 'Nova features the 1-2 punch of All-American (ironically hailing from New Zealand and Canada) sub-4 minute milers Adrian Blincoe and Ryan Hayden. The Wildcats recently won the highly competitive Big East meet, led by individual runner-up Jon Fasulo. The No. 4 Wildcats have been racing sparingly all season in preparation for a championship run.

No. 15 Georgetown is led by senior Jovan Broderick. While not as dominant at the front as Villanova, the Hoyas have had a notably small spread from first to fifth runner.

That fifth runner (or as was the case at Heps, the fourth and fifth runner) has been Princeton's Achilles heel. "We definitely have the talent to qualify for NCAAs, but as we've been saying all season, we need five guys to run well," Ordway said.

At Heps, the Tigers had a deep talent pool, but not enough people had good races that morning. Unfortunately for Princeton, two of its potential scorers are now injured.

Sophomore Jon Kielszak and freshman Jim Flannery are out with possible stress fractures. First team All-Ivy Tristan Colangelo, senior captain Jon Bell, classmates Josh Ordway and Mike Baird as well as early season team leader and sophomore Austin Smith have all had standout races this season. For Princeton to extend its season past Saturday, all five need to run their best.

"To prepare, we've stopped doubling this week and have only one light workout. I know that I personally am trying to get enough sleep and build up my confidence for the race, and I'm sure my teammates are doing the same," Ordway said. "It's just a matter of getting five guys who are willing to be mentally tough on Saturday."

Toughness will be on the order, as the race is being held on a golf course ski-hill at altitude on thick grass that has been doused with torrential rain. On those fairways, the Tigers will decide the outcome of their season.