Kroshus leads w. cross country to first H-Y-P win in five years

Women's cross country finally did it.

This weekend, the Tigers traveled to Cambridge, Mass., to participate in the 27th annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet. The H-Y-P meet is the biggest bragging-rights race of the season, and Princeton was, understandably, determined to win it.

"We raced against [Harvard and Yale] the weekend before and won, but we really wanted to shut them out," junior Carrie Strickland said.

Before Saturday's race, the Tigers' last win at H-Y-Ps came in 1998, which was one reason why the Tigers were so hungry for a victory. Yale has won the past three races, with the Tigers trailing in second each time. Last year was especially disappointing as Princeton lost by only a single point, 29-28.

This year, however, the Tigers paid it back in full by taking all five top positions, earning a perfect score of 15.

Senior Emily Kroshus led the Tigers with a time of 17 minutes, eight seconds. She has placed first in all three of Princeton's meets this year. Just four seconds behind came sophomore Cack Ferrell. She has come in second in all the races she has participated in so far this season.

Juniors Carrie Strickland and Marian Bihrle, followed by freshman Mia Swenson, rounded out the top five. Senior Laura Petrillo came in seventh to put six Tigers in the top 10.

"At about the two mile mark, Carrie, Mia, and I were together, and Laura Petrillo came up and pulled us past two Yale girls," Bihrle said. "At that point, it was all Princeton."

And this remained unchanged throughout the race. Strickland finished at 17:42, Bihrle at 17:44, Swenson at 17:45 and Petrillo at 17:49.

Harvard's top finishers were Mairead O'Callaghan (8), Beverly Whelan (11) and Laura Maludzinski (18), with the Crimson coming in third with a score of 48.

Yale managed to get three in the top 10. Cara Kiernan (6), Melissa Donais (9) and Rebecca Hunter (10) all helped to put Yale in second with a score of 46. Both Harvard and Yale will be able to lock horns again this coming weekend when they meet at the New England Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.

Last weekend at the Iona Meet of Champions in Van Cortland Park, N.Y., Princeton got a preview of the Harvard and Yale squads when it defeated them along with 15 other teams to take first place. Harvard ended up in ninth place at this event while Yale took second.

A very different year

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One difference between last year's H-Y-P meet and this one was the absence of Yale's Kate and Laura O'Neill. The past three years these two took first and second at H-Y-Ps, respectively.

It is important to note, however, how much stronger this year's Princeton team is compared to past squads.

"We had a really good day. Even if we hadn't had our top five runners, we still could have beat Harvard and Yale," Bihrle said. "It speaks a lot about our depth. We're a lot stronger this year. Looking at the times from last year, our second fastest runner would have been 15th this year."

This has not gone unnoticed, either. The Division I Cross Country Poll had previously unranked Princeton 26th in the country and fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Another difference in this year's group is the addition of Strickland. Strickland ran cross country as a freshman and took last year off to focus on track. But this year she has returned and proven herself to be a valuable addition to the team.

She was the seventh Tiger to cross the line at the Battlefield Invitational, earning eighth place there. She was the fourth Princeton athlete to finish at the Iona Meet of Champions and she finished third just recently at the H-Y-P meet.

"I wanted to try it again," Strickland said. "[Cross country] is great training for track, and it's been pretty exciting."

The Tigers have a strong group of underclassmen, which has also helped boost their performance. In the top five at this weekend's race there was only one senior, Kroshus. This bodes well for next season, when most of this year's roster will be able to return to compete again and bring with them the experience gained from this year.