Heading into last weekend, the women's cross country team was simply hoping to position itself for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. By the end of the weekend, however, the Tigers had vaulted into first place in their region thanks to a sixth-place finish at Pre-Nationals.
Both the men's and women's squads sent their top seven to Cedar Falls, Iowa for this race. By far the biggest story of the weekend was the impressive finish by the women's team.
Flying Ferrell
Leading the way was sophomore Cack Ferrell, who turned in the best performance of her young college career.
Ferrell finished sixth overall, completing the course in 20 minutes, 24 seconds. Senior Emily Kroshus followed close behind in 11th.
"Kroshus and I started out together and made it to the front pack of about 25 athletes. By the first mile we were running in 11th and 12th place in a pack of 10 girls," Ferrell said. "At that point I was rather surprised that we were so close to the front but continued on with the hope of staying with the front pack.
"Not much changed until the 300-meter hill when part of the pack dropped back and the 10 of us spread out. In the last two kilometers none of the places ahead of me changed, and it was just a matter of holding where I was and not losing any ground."
Princeton was fortunate to have all of its runners grouped together on the right side of the track. This made staying together early on and not having to fight for position much easier.
Other top Princeton finishers included junior Carrie Strickland (39th place) and senior Laura Petrillo (53).
Meanwhile, the rest of the team was in Easton, Pa., racing in the Leopard Inivitational. Princeton placed seven runners in the top 13 to take first place in the 12-team meet.
Prior to the weekend, Princeton was ranked No. 23 nationally, trailing three teams in its district — Georgetown (No. 8), Villanova (No. 13), and Penn State (No. 18). After their impressive performance this weekend, the Tigers jumped ahead of all three to No. 14.
One step closer
Only two of these four teams will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, although at-large bids are also a possibility. Princeton's effort this past week helps the Tigers get closer to achieving their goal of qualifying automatically.
The meets once again displayed the Tigers' depth. Not only are the top seven runners a force to be reckoned with on the national level, but the Tigers are strong across the board.
"We beat some really highly regarded teams and opened our eyes to how well we can do come November if everyone keeps improving," Kroshus said. "We're all ecstatic at the way we're coming along and very excited to demoralize Columbia next Friday at Van Cortland Park."
While the men's team did not encounter the same success at Pre-Nationals as the women did, finishing in 14th place, its weekend was not without a few bright spots.
Senior Tristan Colangelo was the fastest Tiger finisher. He came in 25th with a time of 24:02.5 in the 8000m event. The rest of the runners were spread out across the field. Junior Austin Smith was the second Princeton finisher and 56th overall.
A majority of the men's cross country team, meanwhile, raced at the Leopard Invitational. Princeton swept the competition, placing six of its runners in the top 12 positions to win the meet.
Junior Ryan Teising was Princeton's top finisher with a time of 25:51.79 for the five-mile course, good for fifth place. Junior Dan Mackenzie and freshman John Basler were next in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Freshmen Wayne Hopp, Eric Beights and Jeff Bryne took the 10 through 12 spots.
Both the men and women race at Van Courtland Park in New York at the Heptagonal Championships in two weeks.
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