Led by the record-setting performance of senior Cack Ferrell, the women's varsity cross country team outran Harvard and Yale this past weekend to place first at the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet held at the Yale Golf Club.
The Tigers beat the Bulldogs, 23-36, and cruised over the Crimson, 19-44. Those individual victories gave Princeton a total of 27 points, while Yale accumulated 41 and Harvard recorded 70, giving the Tigers a clear victory.
All-American Ferrell was the first runner to cross the finish line. Her time of 16 minutes, 52.94 seconds was a new course record. She was followed closely by two teammates, juniors Catha Mullen and Mia Swenson, who finished fourth and fifth overall with times of 17:32.04 and 17:48.80, respectively.
"I was thrilled with the team's performance at Yale on Saturday," Mullen said. "It was a pretty tough course, and lots of girls ran their best times ever for 5K."
Remarkably, the eighth through the 18th finishers — with just one exception — were all Tigers.
"The sense of pride we all felt being surrounded by so much black and orange as we all crossed the finish line one after the other was palpable," said freshman Jolee Vanleuven, who finished in the midst of the pack in ninth place.
Princeton clearly showed a great deal of depth this weekend. The pack of Tigers who finished together included two seniors, four juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen.
The momentum from this success will certainly help the women's team as it prepares for its next major challenge, the Pre-Nationals, which will be held in Indiana on Oct. 15.
Men's team takes third
The Tiger men's cross country team also ran well this weekend, placing third at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh.
Forty-four teams participated in the meet, including Ivy League rivals Columbia and Penn, both of which Princeton beat. The Tigers finished 47 points behind Georgetown, the overall winner, and 16 points behind La Salle, the second-place finisher.
Senior Frank Macreery finished the eight-kilometer course in 24:00 to place fifth overall. He trailed the race winner by only seven seconds.
He was followed by sophomore Dave Nightingale and senior Ben Stern, who finished the race 13th and 31st, respectively.
Sophomore Rob Grote and junior Paul Rosa were the only other scorers for Princeton. They placed 58th and 63rd, respectively, both with times under 25 minutes.
Two other Tiger runners, freshman Michael Maag and sophomore Justin Pines, also put up a strong showing, finishing the course comfortably within the top half of the 299 race finishers by coming in under 26 minutes.
By recording such a high finish in just its second meet of the season, the men's team shows promise for the rest of its season.
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