Regionals is next step for Tigers

For most teams, a victory in the league championship would serve as a fitting end to the season. Princeton's cross country squads are not most teams. After both the men and women came away with victories at the Heptagonal Championships on Oct. 27 in New York City's Van Cortlandt Park, the teams will compete in Lock Haven, Pa., this Saturday, Nov. 11, with the goal of capturing a pair of NCAA Regional Championships en route to Nationals.

Both teams hope to finish in the top two this weekend in order to qualify as a team for Nationals, held Nov. 20 in Terre Haute, Ind, where the women finished 10th last season.

The women's squad, led by head coach Peter Farrell, had perhaps been the more impressive of the two. The team, currently ranked No. 18 in the nation, has fared far better than its Ivy League counterparts, none whom have cracked the top 30.

Winning Heps was part of the team's plan for the season after three consecutive runner-up finishes.

"It was a stated goal of ours to win Heps. We just take it one race at a time," said Farrell.

The Tigers have similarly high expectations this weekend against a stronger pool of teams, especially since they will be defending the title they won in 2005.

"All along, the goal has been to finish in the top two at Regionals," senior Mia Swenson said. "The win at Heps was a big confidence-booster, but not so unexpected. It didn't really change our perspective."

Though the field for Regionals will be talented, the Princeton squad is most concerned with the highly ranked Georgetown team.

"Georgetown is our main competition but we'd like to compete with them and I think we'll have a good shot," Swenson said.

In spite of the team's apparent success, Swenson believes the runners are capable of more.

"As a team we're doing really well," she said, "but we still haven't had a day where we have all had our best races at the same time."

Though the team has yet to truly hit on all cylinders, someone always steps up when needed. As a true testament to the squad's depth, the Tigers have had a different leading runner in each meet this season.

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"The upperclassmen have really helped the freshmen over the course of the season," rookie Liz Costello, who placed seventh at Heps, said. "We're all looking towards the same goal."

With just two races remaining, the Tigers will be looking to finish the season in the strong fashion that they began it.

"We're more than capable of placing in the top two," Costello said.

The men's squad, led by distance coach Steve Dolan, appears poised for a strong showing at Regionals, as all of its top runners should be available for the race. At Heps, the Tigers were able to take advantage of their depth and a few stellar performances. Most notable was senior captain Paul Rosa's fifth-place finish, his best of the year.

This weekend's meet, however, will likely prove more difficult than Heps, given the breadth of talented runners who will participate in the race.

In order to realize their goal of a top-two finish this weekend, the Tigers will need another strong effort from their leading runners — sophomore Michael Maag, junior Dave Nightingale and Rosa.

Georgetown and American, which placed first and second respectively in last year's race, should once again serve as the main competition for a Tiger squad that finished third in last year's Regionals.

"It's going to be a tough competition," Rosa said. "We're hoping and expecting to do very well but it's not going to be easy to beat Georgetown. Still, we'll be running to win the region."

Last year's third-place finish failed to garner the Tigers a team bid to Nationals, though Nightingale and Frank Macreery '06 qualified as individuals. This year, the Tigers appear poised to improve upon that finish.

"Our workout on Tuesday went well," Rosa said. "We're going to build off the team performance [at Heps]. Personally, I'm confident."