Men's, women's cross country takes second at Heps

Cross country races are determined by who wants to win more on any given day, not by the numbers on a piece paper.

Though they were not the favorites, the men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Van Cortlandt Park in New York on Oct.28 with the belief they could win at Heptagonals — and it paid off. Lead by a pair of third place individual finishes by their senior captains, both squads took turned in strong showings and finished in second place overall.

On the men's side, senior Frank Macreery took bronze, finishing the eight kilometer course in a time of 24 minutes, 39 seconds — a mere three seconds behind the individual champion, Ben True of Dartmouth.

"I was very happy," Macreery said. "Individually, I was hoping to win the race, but there a number of really good runners up front, so finishing first isn't much worse than finishing third on any given day."

Senior Cack Ferrell turned in a similarly outstanding performance to lead the women's team. Her time of 17:08 in the 5k women's race shattered the previous course record, but was only good enough for third in a talented field of runners.

Ferrell ran in the tight lead pack from wire to wire, and only narrowly missed out on the individual title, finishing just seven seconds behind race winner Caroline Bierbaum of Columbia.

Big Green too tough

But despite the heroics of their captains, both the men and women fell short of the overall crown.

On the men's side, Princeton's 47 points fell short to Dartmouth's 30 points. As assistant coach Stephen Dolan pointed out, however, 47 points is usually a low enough to score to wins at Heps.

"We ran a very good race, a really strong race," Dolan said. "47 was an extremely low score — it's a great score. Last year, it was 70 points that won."

The Tigers were with Dartmouth the whole way, and by the end of the race, the lead pack was comprised almost entirely of Princeton and Dartmouth runners.

"We were right there with Dartmouth," Dolan said. "It was exciting to see us mix it up."

Overall, Princeton posted an extremely strong race.

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"Everyone in our top five ran exceptionally well," Dolan said.

Macreery, too, was thrilled with the team's showing.

"I was extremely happy with the team performance," Macreery said. "47 points would win Heps most years. It was a great day for the team. Everybody ran the best race they could — there's no reason to be disappointed."

Lions roar

It was Columbia that edged on the Tigers in the women's race, finishing with 51 points to Princeton's 65.

Beyond Farrell, Princeton's four other runners also turned in strong showings, with several running personal bests. Juniors Catha Mullen and Mia Swenson finished 9th and 11th, respectively, for the team.

Freshman Jolee van Leuven finished 15th in 18:03, while junior Caroline Mullen took 27th in 18:18, easily a personal best.

"We looked to maximize our performance, and almost everybody ran faster, we did very well," Farrell said. "We had four runners in the top 15, with a freshman taking 15th place. Our fifth runner finished 27th, a 45 second personal best for her."

The men and women both next run at NCAA Regionals at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., on Nov. 12. Both squads hope to qualify for Nationals, to be held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 21 — both the men and the women qualified last year. Individually, Ferrell will have the most on the line, as she looks to earn All-American honors for the third straight year.