When the pistol fired to begin the Rider Invitational, over three inches of rain had already fallen and there was no end in sight. Racing in rainy, muddy conditions can be treacherous, challenging and just downright frustrating. But for the men's cross country team Saturday morning, running in the mud was rather fun.
The Tigers, running without their top group of varsity runners, took first place overall at the Rider Invitational in Lawrenceville with a low score of 15.
Junior Jeff Byrne took first place overall in the meet with a time of 27 minutes, 1.6 seconds, edging out Rider's John Smith by less than two seconds. Princeton placed four others, all freshmen, in the top nine to seal the victory. Dylan Cater finished fourth with a time of 27:15.0, Brett Campfield in fifth at 27:18.8, Kyle Smith in sixth at 27:25.2 and Tom Yersak in ninth at 28:04.7 to round out the Tigers' top five.
"It was a good meet," Smith said. "We all ran well, despite the sloppy conditions."
Fun in the mud
Though heavy rains throughout the weekend made for a wet and muddy course, this group of terrier-tough harriers was unfazed.
"It was fun," Yersak said. "We just ran our races without letting the conditions affect us. We had a good time."
Before the race, head coach Steve Dolan sat down with the group of runners, composed mostly of freshmen seeking to gain experience and runners returning from injury. Dolan feared that many of the recovering athletes would be exposed to further risk by racing in such conditions. When meeting with the team before the race, he asked them whether or not they wanted to run and then left the room, allowing the Tigers to ponder the challenge.
"It was a unanimous decision," Campfield said. "We wanted to race."
"We told him, 'We got up this early, and we want to run,' " Smith said. "After talking with Coach Dolan, we were very pumped to go run in the mud."
Change of strategy
The adverse weather changed the dynamics of the race. In such heavy rain, speeds were slower, footings were more slippery and everyone was just a little more susceptible to injury.
"The rain definitely made the race a lot of fun," Campfield said. "Racing in those conditions takes away a lot of the speed aspects of cross country racing. It becomes a lot more about endurance."
Though the times turned in by Princeton were not among the runners' best, no one seemed discouraged. Because many of the low-lying areas of Rider's course had become flooded, the course had to be rerouted. Consequently, the exact length of the course may not have been the standard eight kilometers (roughly five miles).
"We've all run better times," Campfield said. "But it's hard to compare this time to others because of both the weather conditions and the change in course. We just know we went out there and ... ran our best and won the meet. We had fun."
The full team returns to action next Saturday at the Pre-Nationals Invitational at Indiana State University in Terra Haute, Ind. The team will see many national cross country powerhouse programs, as well as some Ivy League foes, in what promises to be a tough test for Princeton.
But after taking on Mother Nature, the Tigers are ready for their next challenge.
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