The old adage says that all good things must come to an end, but senior Austin Smith, it seems, has found a way to delay the inevitable.
Smith tied for third (30 minutes, 33 seconds) at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional cross country meet held this weekend. This qualified him for NCAA nationals next week, postponing what would have been his last race and the end of his time as a collegiate competitive runner.
"I'm thrilled to extend my career one more week," Smith said.
The men's cross country team finished sixth in the meet, led by the strong performances of Smith and junior Frank McCreery, who finished 10th with a time of 30:47 for the 10-kilometer course.
The women's team churned out an even more impressive performance, finishing third at the same meet.
While only the top two men's and women's teams from each region automatically advance to nationals, the women's team qualified as an at-large team (nine across the country are chosen) and will race next weekend at nationals, to be held in Terre Haute, Ind. The seven Tigers who competed at regionals will race for Princeton there.
Junior Cack Ferrell led the Tigers with a time of 21:08 and a sixth-place finish over the six-kilometer course. Fellow junior Meredith Lambert joined Ferrell in the top 10 with a 10th place finish (21:21).
The Tigers pushed each other to a strong team finish, thanks to strong overall performances and close pack running.
"The spread [between first and fifth places for the team] was only 1:10, which is about the closest it's been all season," Ferrell said.
Likewise, Princeton's fourth-through seventh-place finishers were separated by a spread of only 16 seconds.
The men's finishers were more spread out, but Smith noted the strong performances of McCreery, junior Ben Stern and freshmen David Nightingale and Bud Grote. While the men ran well, their sixth-place finish was about as expected.
"We were ranked sixth in the district coming into the meet, so it could have gone worse," Smith said, adding that all the runners would have virtually had to run the races of their lives in order for the team to qualify for nationals.
Villanova and Georgetown were the favorites in the men's race, but American University took advantage of Villanova's weak performance to capture second place and secure automatic advancement to nationals.
Princeton was among the favorites in the women's race to qualify automatically. Although the Tigers will still be heading out to Terre Haute next week, a strong West Virginia team unexpectedly placed first to push Villanova's women to second and Princeton's to third.
"We kind of feel like we did everything we could, but West Virginia put on a show," Ferrell said.
As the season draws to a close, both the men's and women's teams can look back on highs and lows. While the loss of the Ivy League championship to Columbia for the women's team was a disappointment, their nationals berth will give the Tigers a chance to redeem themselves.
The men's season has been more mixed, but Smith can be proud of his performance at Regionals.
"Cruising in with the leaders, knowing I was going to qualify, was the best feeling ever," he said.
For Smith, that feeling is one he hopes to feel again as his time at Princeton comes to a close.
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