W. cross country finishes ninth out of 31 at NCAAs

Yesterday the women's cross country team raced in the NCAA Championships, the first in program history, at the University of Northern Iowa in Waterloo, Iowa.

Princeton did not let this opportunity go to waste. The Tigers finished ninth out of 31 teams, coming in first among the Ivy League schools represented at the event. Columbia, to whom Princeton finished second at Heptagonals, finished in 13th place.

Senior Emily Kroshus led Princeton with a time of 20 minutes, 3.9 seconds, landing her in eighth place overall. Sophomore Cack Ferrell followed shortly afterwards in 21st place despite a fall several minutes into the race. Though she resumed running, she needed stitches at the race's close.

Junior Carrie Strickland finished in 96th place, followed by classmate Marian Bihrle (98th), senior Laura Petrillo (125th), sophomore Meredith Lambert (139th) and senior Pilar Marin (147th).

Stanford won both the women's and men's championships. North Carolina's Shalana Flanagan won the women's race with a time of 19:30.4.

The Tigers have had an amazing journey en route to their ninth-place finish at nationals. Princeton won its first four meets of the season, followed up closely by the sixth-place upset at Pre-Nationals that rocketed the Tigers from No. 23 in the national polls to No. 14.

Other achievements along the way include Kroshus' posting the fifth-fastest time in Ivy League history and the fastest time in the past 16 years at the Heptagonal Championship to lead the team to a second-place finish, just five points behind No. 9 Columbia.

Ferrell has also been a huge contributor to the team's success, most notably leading the team with her sixth-place finish at Pre-Nationals.

At Regionals, the Tigers made history by finishing second in a field of 26 teams, trailing behind only Georgetown to qualify for their first-ever NCAA Championships.

The finish at nationals is quite a feat for a team that wasn't even ranked in the preseason poll. Also in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Georgetown, Villanova, Penn State and West Virginia were all expected to do better than Princeton this season. Expected by everyone, that is, except the Tigers themselves.

However, it seemed that the luster began to fade as the season wore on. Several of the runners suffered injuries. It was uncertain whether the Tigers were going to make it in one piece to enjoy the reward they had earned.

The team has had its fair share of naysayers. After a second place finish behind Columbia at Heps and behind Georgetown at Regionals, the Tigers stayed locked in their place in the polls even as rivals Villanova and Georgetown rose above them in the polls.

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But if anything certain can be said of this team that has seen so many ups and downs throughout its season, it is that Princeton has never been one to worry about others.

Whether fresh off the high from its Pre-National performance or disappointed from its loss to Georgetown at Regionals, Princeton has never been one to let anything, good or bad, affect the thing it does best — running.

With their performance this Monday, the Tigers were able to put the naysayers to rest by avenging their losses against both Columbia and Georgetown.

In the men's race, Senior Tristan Colangelo also represented Princeton at NCAAs, finishing in 166th place with a time of 31:26.5 for the 10k race. Colorado's Dathan Ritzenhein won the individual men's 10k title in a time of 29:41.1.

Before competing at NCAAs, Colangelo raced with the men's team at the IC4A Cross Country Championships at Van Cortland Park in New York. James Madison took first in the 95th running of the championship, with the Tigers in second, trailing by only 15 points. Sophomore John Baster, who finished sixth, was Princeton's top finisher.