Cross Country: Harriers win Heps yet again

Senior Michael Maag, the 2007 individual champion, finished the grueling eight-kilometer course in 24 minutes, 32.4 seconds, five seconds faster than his winning time from a year ago but only good for second place. In a perfect world, this would have been more than enough to defend his title. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Dartmouth’s Ben True picked this particular day to break the 24-minute barrier.

“I felt like I had a below-average day,” Maag said. “I’m not sure I could have beaten True even on my best day, but I know I’m ready to run faster than I did.”

After junior Ben Sitler crossed the line fourth, followed closely by freshman Brian Leung in sixth, Princeton looked well on its way to a comfortable victory. Maag, Sitler and Leung achieved All-Ivy honors.

“I knew I was in shape,” Sitler said, but he admitted that he didn’t know how he would race because of his “sleepless jet-lagged travel.” Silter had just flown in from Oxford, where he is studying abroad.

Columbia appeared to be out of contention early when none of its runners placed in the top nine. Then a pack of Lions captured the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th spots. Within a span of five seconds, Columbia had all five scorers across the line, each finishing one second behind the other.

With Princeton’s fourth and fifth scorers still nearly 20 seconds out, the Tigers’ shot at a three-peat appeared to be slipping away. Afterward, several Princeton runners joked that head coach Steve Dolan suffered a minor stroke during the traumatic finish.

In the nearly 35 seconds separating Princeton’s third and fourth runners, Columbia’s pack did its damage. The Lions placed eight runners ahead of Princeton’s final scorer, seven of whom counted against the Tigers’ point total.

In the end, Princeton’s early advantage proved too great to overcome. Senior Cameron Marantz broke the drought, finishing 22nd. When sophomore Rob Speare followed in 25th place, the Tigers had improbably won their third-consecutive championship by the smallest of margins, 58-61.

Princeton’s title defense was by no means a given. The team had been hit hard by graduation, losing five of its top eight scorers from a year ago.

“Although most of us will never admit it, there was a lot of doubt hovering over the team prior to this race,” Leung said.

Maag, however, insisted that Princeton came into the race underestimated.

“On paper at least, it looked like a tossup between about three or four schools,” Maag said. “We knew better, we were better than a lot of people thought we were.”

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In stark contrast, the only drama surrounding the women’s race was whether the Tigers would sweep the top five spots for a perfect score of 15. They came within inches of doing it — literally — with Harvard’s Claire Richardson edging Princeton’s fourth and fifth runners by less than a second. Princeton’s team score of 17 obliterated the old record of 23.

“It would have been nice to have left Van Cortlandt with a perfect score,” junior Liz Costello said. “[But] we still have nothing to hang our heads about.”

The outcome of the race was never in doubt. The only question was how the Tigers should conduct themselves after the win.

“The night before the race, our coach told us that we would win but that he expected us to win with grace,” junior Alexa Glencer said. “I believe that we did. We were confident but not cocky.”

Costello kicked off the record-setting by defending her 2007 title in a blistering time of 16:59.9. She is the only Ivy League athlete ever to break 17 minutes for the women’s five-kilometer course. She won the race by more than half a minute: 34.9 seconds to be exact. The previous record for margin of victory was 24 seconds.

Senior captain Megan Brandeland was next to finish, two seconds ahead of junior Reilly Kiernan, who completed Princeton’s 1-2-3 sweep. Glencer was fifth, followed by sophomore Sarah Cummings and senior Jolee Van Leuven in sixth and seventh. All six Tigers earned All-Ivy honors. Kiernan is also a senior writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Princeton also took spots nine through 11. Sophomores Ashley Higginson and Liz Deir, along with freshman Alex Banfich, showcased Princeton’s depth, which is perhaps the best in the country. Despite finishing only ninth for her team, Banfich would have been the top runner for Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn and Yale. In fact, the combined score of Princeton’s sixth through 10th runners would have beaten second-place Columbia, 70-80.

With so much talent on one roster, it is remarkable that there is never a clash of egos.

“Team bonding has never been a problem with this group,” head coach Peter Farrell said. “They genuinely have a real love for each other.”

Depth and chemistry have been key factors in the Tigers’ success this season. Earlier this year at the Notre Dame Invitational, Princeton compensated for top-runner Costello’s illness by placing their top six finishers within 15 seconds of each other to hold off several ranked opponents.

“While we are all proud of our third-straight team title, there are a few goals left to achieve for the season,” Costello said.

The women have already qualified for the national meet on Nov. 24 in Terre Haute, Ind. Before that race, however, the Tigers hope for a strong showing in perhaps the country’s toughest regional race, where they will face three other top-ranked teams: Georgetown, Villanova and West Virginia.

The men’s team, which has barely missed Nationals each of the past three years, will be in a dogfight with Georgetown, Villanova, Penn State and Duquesne for the region’s two automatic berths to the big dance.

Dolan gave a frank assessment of the team’s chances.

“It’s going to be close,” Dolan said. “It’s going to require our best race.”