Women roll on to NCAAs

As one team's season came to an end, another's quest for greatness began. Last Saturday, the men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Lehigh for the 69th Mid-Atlantic Regional cross country race. The men ended their season in heartbreaking fashion, finishing just four points behind second place Villanova, barely failing to qualify for the National Championships. Senior Dave Nightingale, junior Michael Maag and sophomore Ben Sitler, however, will be competing individually at nationals by winning bids based on their individual finishes. The Tigers are one of two teams nationally to send three individuals to Nationals.

The women's team, meanwhile, won its regional race, booking itself a date against the nation's best in Terra Haute, Ind. next Monday.

"I think we definitely had the right strategy going into the race, and we executed it almost flawlessly," Nightingale said. "We were able to get three of our scorers in the top 10, and everyone on the team ran as smart and as hard as he could. In the end, Villanova had just enough low finishers to edge us out."

In one of its best performances of the year, the men's team had all five scorers in the top 27, a result that would have given them the victory in most races. Nightingale, Maag and Sitler finished fourth, ninth, and 10th, all within nine seconds of each other. Seniors James O'Toole and Frank Tinney followed close behind at 31 minutes flat and 31:06, while sophomore Ted Price and senior Justin Pines crossed the line together at 31:17.

"It was definitely our best race of the season, but it also happened to be Villanova's best race of the season," Sitler said. "They ran a new freshman [Ben Guest] from Australia they had been planning on red-shirting, and he just had a phenomenal race. He got eighth overall and second on the team. It just turned out that Villanova's best day with him was better than our best day with Nightingale healthy."

Meanwhile, the No. 4 women's team came out on top in one of its tighter races this season, beating out second-place West Virginia, 56 to 77. The Tigers were led by sophomores Liz Costello and Christy Johnson, who placed second and fifth with times of 19:58 and 20:18, respectively.

This is the first time this season that a Princeton runner has broken the 20-minute mark, and by doing so, Costello captured Princeton's course record at the Lehigh course. Rounding out the scorers for the Tigers were freshman Sarah Cummings and juniors Megan Brandeland and Jolee VanLeuven in 14th, 17th and 18th place, respectively, who finished within seven seconds of one another. Senior Caitlin McTague and freshman Ashley Higginson followed close behind at 20:57 and 21:02.

"The race went really well," Cummings said. "Same as always, [head coach Peter] Farrell told us to go out as a pack and shoot for a 5:25 first mile. I think we hit it and just kept our rhythm throughout."

While the women made it seem like an easy victory and lead-up to the National Championship the Lehigh course provided its unique challenges for the runners.

"The entire third mile was pretty much uphill, so it was kind of rough," Costello said. "But it was a good feeling. We were exactly where we wanted to be, and we pushed through and finished strong."

This is the third straight year that the men's team has barely missed qualifying for nationals. As the season drew to a close, the runners expressed mixed sentiments.

"Defending our Heps title was a big goal for the season, but none of us were quite satisfied with how the season ended," Nightingale said. "Our program has reached the point where we really need to make it to Nationals as a team for the season to be a true success."

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Missing Nightingale early in the season hurt the Tigers, who had no chance at an at-large bid due to an unspectacular early season showing at Pre-Nationals, where they ran without Nightingale.

Despite the regrets, Princeton will be well-represented by the women's team and the men's individual qualifiers on Nov. 19 when the nation's best will be competing on the Lavern Gibson Course at Indiana State University, aiming for the right to be called National Champions.