No. 4 women head to NCAAs

The No. 4 women's cross country team will compete today in its fifth straight NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Ind. The course and the competition are nothing new, but this year something is different: The Tigers are undefeated.

The women's race, which will be broadcast live by CSTV both on TV and online starting at noon, will feature another undefeated team, top-ranked Stanford, which will be looking for its third straight national title. Individual standout Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech will also be on hand to defend her title and add to her already impressive collection of hardware, which includes four indoor and outdoor distance titles. Many sources have already predicted Stanford and Kipyego victories as a lock, but the Tigers dispute that assessment.

"There are definitely some huge powerhouses in the field, like Stanford, Colorado, Florida State, and Oregon," sophomore Christy Johnson said. "But we're up there too."

Undefeated on the season and fresh off a dominating performance at Regionals, the Tigers will have their work cut out for them. Princeton has trained hard over the course of the season, so this past week was just about resting. Head coach Peter Farrell prepared a light week for his squad in preparation for what has been hyped as the biggest race of their lives.

"We're definitely ready for it. We've been tapering this week, just preparing," freshman Sarah Cummings said. "We're in shape; now we just have to go out and do it."

Last year, the women's team finished 23rd, led by junior Jolee VanLeuven in 65th place. This year, however, the Tigers are definitely looking for more.

"It's really exciting to have a team this good," Johnson said. "I think in the beginning of the season Coach Farrell was worried about not making nationals, and now we're going in with a shot to win it. It's just incredible how far the team has come over the course of the season."

Over the season, Heps champion sophomore Liz Costello and Johnson have led Princeton and proved they can run with the best in the country. VanLeuven, junior Megan Brandeland, senior captain Caitlin McTague and freshmen Ashley Higginson and Cummings will be the other runners for the Tigers today.

While the men's team missed qualifying for nationals by just four points, the Tiger men will also be well represented at the championship race. Because of their top finishes at regionals, senior captain Dave Nightingale, junior Michael Maag and sophomore Ben Sitler will be toeing the starting line of the Lavern Gibson Championship course today when the starting gun goes off at 12:05 p.m. Princeton is one of only two schools sending three individuals to the championship race despite not qualifying as a team.

This will be the third straight NCAA Championship race for Nightingale, and the first for teammates Maag and Sitler. Last year, Nightingale earned All-American status by finishing 39th in the race.

The men's field includes perennial powerhouses Oregon, Wisconsin and defending champion Colorado. Since the top two individual finishers from last year have both graduated, however, the title up for grabs.

While the expectations are great for both the men and women, they've shown throughout the season that the bigger the stage, the harder they run. This was epitomized by Princeton's "B" squads, which competed Saturday in the ECAC and IC4A championships at Van Cortland Park in New York City.

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In the women's ECAC championship race, freshman Liz Deir had a breakout performance, finishing third overall with a time of 17 minutes, 57 seconds to better her 15th place performance at Heps by 7 seconds. Fellow classmate Brooke Russell came in 13th in 18:25. Junior Katie Thaeder and senior Kim Bonner finished 62nd and 90th, respectively.

"It was a bit chillier than usual ... but I was very excited before the race," Deir said. "My biggest goal was to win the race, and I really wanted to break 18 minutes and enjoy running at the front of the pack and appreciate the fact that I was finishing my first college [cross country] season representing Princeton."

Villanova won the women's race, which featured "A" teams from schools that did not qualify for nationals, as well as other schools' "B" teams.

In the men's IC4A championship race, freshman Dennis Walsh led the Tigers to a fourth-place finish by coming in 12th overall in 25:34. Sophomore Tim Branigan crossed the line six seconds later in 18th place, while freshman Zack Predmore and junior Brian Sharkey finished 30th and 32nd, respectively. Completing the Princeton team were juniors Richard Andrews and Peter Bartlett, senior Robert Grote, and sophomore Ben White.