Tigers sweep Heps again

In one of the most dominant performances in program history, the men's and women's cross country teams swept the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships for the second straight year, coming away with a pair of individual and team titles last Friday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City.

The Tigers managed to outdo their championship performance last year by not only rolling past their seven Ivy League opponents by large margins, but also producing two individual champions in the persons of junior Michael Maag and sophomore Liz Costello.

"It was just a great day for Princeton cross country," Maag said. "And it was exciting having all the parents and alumni there to watch and celebrate [with both] the men's and women's teams."

The men's team finished with a low score of 38, far outstripping second place Columbia's 67. Maag led the charge for the Tigers, winning the race in a time of 24 minutes, 37 seconds. Sophomore Ben Sitler and seniors Dave Nightingale, Frank Tinney and James O'Toole all finished within 34 seconds of one another, rounding out the scorers for the Tigers. All five runners finished in the top 17, marking a tremendous team performance only enhanced by the individual championship.

"We're really stoked that Maag won," Sitler said. "But as before, it's only icing on the cake considering the team victory."

The No. 4 women's team dominated in even more dramatic fashion. The five scorers for Princeton all finished in the top 9, giving the Tigers a miniscule score of 25, dominating second place Columbia's 69. Costello crossed the line at 17:14, closely followed by sophomore Christy Johnson, who took second at 17:23. Juniors Megan Brandeland and Jolee VanLeuven finished fifth and eighth respectively, with freshman Ashley Higginson rounding out the scorers.

"I don't think there is anything [that can stop us]," Brandeland said. "We've got a huge sense of confidence, and we have lots of momentum going into regionals and nationals."

Undefeated on the season, the women's team enters the heart of the championship season looking for greater success on the national stage.

"I guess it really hasn't registered yet, the fact that we're undefeated," Costello said. "It's just that we keep looking forward to the season goal, a strong top 10 finish in the NCAAs. But now considering how the season's been going, some might say that top 10 might be selling ourselves a bit short. But we just try not to put pressure on ourselves and just run for the team, for ourselves and for our teammates. Nobody wants to let the others down."

The Tigers made history over Fall Break, as it was the first time in school history that a pair of Princeton runners won the individual races at Heptagonals, let alone sweep the team titles as well. The collective and individual triumphs are even more impressive as they came amid the turmoil of midterms.

"Midterms definitely made the race interesting," Sitler said. "We tried to get enough sleep, and [head coach Fred] Samara talked to us the week before about the added pressure from midterms ... A few people had to reschedule midterms to earlier in the week, but I guess everything worked out pretty well."

Up next for the cross country teams are NCAA Regionals, which take place this coming weekend at Lehigh. Both teams have already competed on the Regionals course during the Paul Short run earlier this year, a fact only adds to their confidence.

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"We definitely keep getting better from race to race, and that's something we've been very focused on all season, constantly improving and running our best when it matters the most," Maag said. "We definitely did a lot better than at Pre-Nationals, which was our last race, and hopefully we'll be even better at Regionals next week."

The top two teams from Regionals will move on to the NCAA Championships, which will take place the end of this month in Terre Haute, Ind.