Women win regionals, qualify for nationals; men fall short

After similarly successful performances two weeks ago at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, the men's and women's cross country teams' paths have diverged. On Saturday at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, the women had a remarkable performance, winning the meet for the second year in a row, while the men finished fourth overall.

With the victory, the women's squad qualified for the NCAA National Championships as a team. Though the men's team had an impressive showing, by finishing outside the top two, it failed to secure a team bid for Nationals.

The women's team, coming off a victory at the Heps, had high hopes for its performance in Lock Haven, Penn. Princeton succeeded in accomplishing its main goal for the meet — finishing in the top two — beating the favored Georgetown harriers by a sizeable margin.

"We were especially pleased with the win because we came in as the No. 2 seed," freshman Liz Costello said. "Regionals was really positive for the team — another feather in our cap."

Led by senior Mia Swenson, the Tigers had all seven runners finish within the top 40 places. Swenson finished fourth overall, completing the six-kilometer course in just 20:42, only 11 seconds behind the second-place finisher.

"I had a pretty disappointing race at Heps," Swenson said, "so it was nice to come back and run the race I wanted to run on Saturday."

Finishing shortly behind Swenson were sophomore Jolee Van Leuven and freshman Christy Johnson, who finished in seventh and 10th place, respectively. Van Leuven recorded a time of 20:58 and Johnson completed the course in 21:02.

Rounding out the finishers for the Tigers were freshman Alexa Glencer in 13th place and Costello in 22nd, followed by seniors Catha Mullen in 25th and Caroline Mullen in 40th.

With a low score of 56 points, Princeton had a sizeable margin of victory over runner-up Georgetown's 77. The Orange and Black managed to place its top six in front of every other team's fifth.

"Regionals was definitely a confidence booster, but it hasn't drastically changed our perspective," Swenson said.

Though Regionals were certainly an impressive showing for the team, the real test comes next week at Nationals, the pinnacle of the Tigers' season.

"We're capable of a top-10 finish," Swenson said. "That's what everyone wants."

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"Our whole season has been pretty successful," Costello said. "We've been strong through all of our meets, but every person will have to perform [at Nationals] to get the results we want."

Unable to maintain its momentum from a victory at Heps two weeks prior, the men's team garnered a fourth-place finish at Saturday's Regionals.

In spite of an impressive performance from junior Dave Nightingale, who finished sixth overall with a time of 30:32 on the 10,000-meter course, the team was bested by Georgetown, American and Villanova.

The team's fourth-place finish, coupled with strong performances from teams in other regions, prevented them from qualifying for Nationals as a team. Nightingale, however, will make another appearance at Nationals with an individual bid.

"We weren't exactly happy with the way we performed," senior captain Paul Rosa said. "Dave had a great race, but we simply didn't run the way we did at Heps."

Rosa had predicted before the race that the three teams who finished ahead of the Tigers — Georgetown, American and Villanova, who placed in that order — would be their main competition.

"I wasn't thrilled with the way we ran," he said. "The teams that finished ahead of us came to play and had good races."

Rounding out the top performers for the Tigers were sophomore Michael Maag, Rosa, freshman Ben Sitler and junior Frank Tinney, who finished 25th, 34th, 39th and 44th, respectively.

Princeton's score of 148 put it significantly behind third-place Villanova, which tallied a total of 91 points. Georgetown won with 66 points, placing its five scoring runners all in the top 20 finishers of the race.

"I was fine with the way I ran but not thrilled," Rosa said. "I don't think anyone except for Dave did quite what they wanted."