The men’s meets this weekend will break a three-week dry spell in the team’s season. Princeton’s season schedule, as head coach Steve Dolan explained, puts heavy emphasis on competitions late in the fall. Likewise, the Tigers will see a heavy pickup in races in the coming weeks.
Last year Princeton had a more forgiving early-season schedule, with an extra race between the season’s opening and the October invitationals. Hopefully for the Tigers, the team will be able to use its extra rest and training time this season to come out harder this weekend.
Princeton’s enrollment in the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational departs from tradition. In the past, both the men’s and women’s teams sent squads to Notre Dame and the Paul Short Invitational. Although Princeton will still be evenly represented at the latter, the men have chosen to journey past South Bend to Madison, where they will compete with a fresh set of East Coast and Midwest teams.
History weighs in the Princeton men’s favor entering Saturday’s meet. At last year’s Notre Dame Invitational, Princeton took 10th. But more importantly, it was younger runners that led the team. With these runners still competing for the Orange and Black this year, the Tigers appear well poised to capture top finishes at the meet.
At last’s year’s Paul Short Invitational, the men placed 24th.
The men will have some momentum entering the tough weeks ahead. No. 23 Princeton broke into the nation’s top 25 teams following its season-opening victory at the Spiked Shoe Invitational at Penn State. And Princeton has surpassed its rival, Georgetown, and trails only Villanova in the Mid-Atlantic region.
The women hope to maintain their momentum from last weekend’s Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet. Although the victory carried no national significance — cross country teams cannot earn national qualification points before October — the Tigers’ win over Harvard and Yale reaffirmed the team’s No. 9 ranking.
Though Princeton will leave its Ivy League rivals behind this weekend, the race in South Bend will bring stiff competition. The sport’s top three teams — No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Florida State and No. 3 Washington — will all send runners.
Princeton placed second at the Notre Dame Invitational last year. The Tigers trailed only Washington and beat out traditional title contenders Florida State and Arizona State.
Though the Tigers no longer have Liz Costello ’10 and Reilly Kiernan ’10, Princeton’s remaining runners have risen to the occasion in their races this season.
Senior co-captains Sarah Cummings and Ashley Higginson, junior Alex Banfich and sophomore Mel Newbery are expected to make strong showings this weekend. Newbery is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.
The Princeton women had a strong showing at last year’s Paul Short Invitational with strong performances from younger runners and hope these runners can replicate that success this time around.
The women’s season, like the men’s, places more emphasis on late races.
Large, competitive races will dominate the rest of the race schedule.
The Notre Dame Invitation, while important, is the team’s last big meet before the pressure of NCAAs and Heptagonal Championships.
Both teams will have next weekend to recover before pre-nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 16.
Those not competing in Pre-Nationals will race in the Princeton Invitational at West Windsor Fields, the team’s only home race for the 2010 season.
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