Harriers sweep Heps

For the men, it crowned a meteoric rise after a sixth-place finish two years ago. For the women, it was redemption after three straight years of runner-up finishes. Together, the Tiger squads swept the Heptagonal Championships to reign supreme over the Ivy League cross country landscape.

Following a pair of close second-place finishes for the men's and women's teams last year, both squads lost superstars in Frank Macreery '06 and Cack Ferrell '06. Relying on depth and some stellar freshmen, the squads entered the meet as favorites to capture the title. The pressure did not frighten the Tigers; rather, the athletes took it upon themselves to train harder, emphasizing teamwork and unity to make an unforgettable season.

"The sweet thing about our team all season long has been our depth, with people always stepping up when others have had sub-par days," freshman Ben Sitler said. "Heps was no different than the other races and several of us stepped up to secure the win."

This build in depth has been an ongoing project for the men's team for several years. With coach Steve Dolan's arrival in 2004, the team has made a remarkable turnaround in three seasons, with the ninth Princeton finisher beating last year's champion Dartmouth's fifth finisher and seven Princeton runners finishing in the top 25. The Tigers, who finished with a score of 50, outdistanced second-place Columbia, who scored 63, while Dartmouth finished third with 97 points.

"The game plan for Heps was to stay packed together, run even, but to make sure that the pace was honest," Sitler said. "We felt that we had the best chances of winning if the race developed into a test of fitness, knowing that we had the most depth of any team and that we had the most guys that could run in that front pack of an up tempo race. I think that we executed this plan well and that the race unfolded just as we had hoped."

Junior Dave Nightingale fought for the individual win down the stretch but fell just short as he finished behind two-time individual champion Ben True of Dartmouth by only four seconds and missed second place by only one second.

The most outstanding individual performance, however, came from senior captain Paul Rosa, who not only surpassed his personal record on the course by over one minute, but also came in with a strong fifth-place finish, defeating sophomore Michael Maag to lock his place as the second-place finish for the Tigers.

Maag continued his streak of breathtaking performances by finishing seventh overall, missing sixth place by less than a second.

Junior Bud Grote and Sitler both had breakout performances to clinch the win with 17th-and 18th-place finishes. Sitler has been hampered in his performance for the past couple weeks, but he cemented his position as the star freshman when he crossed the finish right behind Grote, who barely made the Heps squad but ran a standout race to grab the win for the Tigers.

"[It's] really exciting because six of the top seven are returning next year," Rosa said. "Dolan has done a great job preparing us for Heps this year. I felt a different attitude on the team going into the race this year than in years past; we were more psyched up and we finally knew that we could do something special."

Like the men, the women stepped up and made this meet special. Though the Tigers didn't have a finisher in the top four, Princeton's top five runners all poured across the finish line in the next 23 seconds to easily sweep Columbia, 42-64, who had won the past four championships.

"Our focus was to race to the best of our strengths — [which] is our depth — to do that pack-running is essential," freshman Christy Johnson said. "I think it was executed perfectly, evidenced by the narrow time difference between our first and fifth scorers."

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Senior Mia Swenson fought for the lead from the start but fell back as two freshmen pulled away from the pack to lead eight Tigers to finish in the top 25.

Johnson and fellow freshman Liz Costello were the first Princeton runners to cross the line at fifth and seventh places respectively, as underclassmen were essential this year in helping Princeton claim the title that has eluded them for over two decades. Sophomore Jolee Van Leuven and senior Catha Mullen followed immediately, finishing eighth and ninth to round out the top 10.

Senior Caroline Mullen claimed the surprising race of the day. Not only did Caroline break her personal record by 21 seconds on Saturday, she was also the fifth Princeton runner to cross the finish line after recently running ninth on the team.

"Our victory on Friday represents not just the work of the five scorers, or even the 12 who ran at Heps," Catha Mullen said. "Rather, it represents the work of countless runners over the past 25 years, and particularly over the past four years. Without runners such as Cack Ferrell '06, Meredith Lambert '06 and Emily Kroshus '04, our program would not be where it is today."

Even amid the celebration, the two teams haven't stopped their training. Both teams have crafted greater goals and set their sights on the upcoming NCAA championships. With team depth as its strongest advantage, Princeton holds a greater chance at qualifying for the nationals meet as a team.

"We still have two major races coming up in the next few weeks as we will compete for a spot at Nationals and the Midatlantic Region Title next weekend," Sitler said. "Our win at cross country Heps has started the ball rolling of a great year for Princeton Athletics and people have already begun talking about the possibility of a triple crown."