The men’s team ran in the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational in Madison, Wis., on Saturday and sent a small squad to the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday. The women’s team was also split, with the top runners going to the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., on Friday, and other members of the team running in the Paul Short Invitational.
In South Bend, Ind., the women’s team placed seventh at the Notre Dame Invitational. Junior Alex Banfich crossed the finish line fourth as No. 8 Princeton’s fastest runner.
After opening its season with a victory at the Spiked Shoe Invitational, the men’s team continued its strong season with its performance at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.
Junior captain Donn Cabral took the meet’s highest honor as he led the No. 23 Tigers to third place at the meet.
“The team has been working towards this kind of success in cross country for a long time,” junior Joe Stilin said. “On Saturday we ran like a national-caliber team.”
Cabral shared his teammate’s sentiments.
“One of the best things about this meet for me was to think how far we’ve come in the past year,” he said. “This year we are pretty fired up about the potential we have and the level that we’re competing at.”
Cabral’s finish was the team’s crowning moment. His time of 23 minutes, 29.0 seconds in the 8-kilometer run earned him first place. Although shadowed by his competition the entire race, Cabral managed to maintain a consistent lead.
Junior Brian Leung followed Cabral, finishing in 23:51.5 to place 11th overall. Stilin placed 23rd at the meet, making him the Tigers’ third-fastest competitor. He clocked in at 24:02.8.
The Wisconsin Adidas Invitational presented the Tigers with some major competition. Princeton competed among 212 runners from several nationally ranked teams. The Tigers placed ahead of No. 20 Providence, No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 11 Syracuse.
“To be honest, I had no idea how fast we were running the whole time — only that we were hanging with some of the best runners in the NCAA,” Stilin said. “It was a good feeling.”
Head coach Stephen Dolan said that his athletes’ successful track season in the spring has helped them in the fall.
“The guys got to a new level of running during track,” Dolan said. “It was a great confidence booster.”
Dolan also credited the team’s older runners with inspiring achievement throughout the team.
“Success is kind of contagious in that way,” he said. “Team success goes a lot farther than one guy running well.”
The coach emphasized the importance of the Tigers’ performance being a team effort and said he was especially impressed with his younger runners.
“It’s not easy for freshmen to come in and compete in men’s cross country,” Dolan said. “It’s a big jump.”
Dolan praised freshmen Jonathan Vitez and Alejandro Arroyo Yamin for their weekend performances. Vitez was among the Tigers’ top seven runners at the Wisconsin meet, while Arroyo Yamin came in second at the Paul Short Invitational.
“These are strong runs for their second collegiate race,” Dolan added. “It takes five guys to run really well for a team to succeed. That happened at both meets this weekend.”
Madison was the men’s last stop before Pre-Nationals in Terra Haute, Ind.
“[Pre-Nationals] is basically an opportunity to preview the national championship course and size ourselves up against some more of the best teams in the country,” Cabral said.
The scale of the Notre Dame Invitational presented a new obstacle for the women’s team on Friday. While older runners coped well with the talented field, the team’s underclassmen struggled.
“We had a sort of breakdown in the back,” head coach Peter Farrell said. “Our younger runners weren’t used to the exceptionally fast pace and crowded conditions.”
The team’s upperclassmen performed very well. In addition to Banfich’s fourth-place finish, senior co-captains Sarah Cummings and Ashley Higginson finished 13th and 21st, respectively.
“This weekend is all about Ms. Banfich,” Higginson said in an e-mail.
The Tigers faced a daunting lineup in South Bend. Four of the nation’s top five teams competed in the Notre Dame Invitational. Despite some setbacks over the weekend, Farrell seemed confident that his team will rebound.
“It’s good to experience this level before we get into the heart of the season,” Farrell said. “[We’ll] buckle up and adjust and we’ll be fine for Pre-Nationals, which comes up next.”
The women will join the men’s team at Pre-Nationals on Oct. 16.
Both teams also sent younger squads to the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University. The men’s team took first place, lead by junior Max Kaulbach, who won the meet’s brown race. The women placed second, with key runs from freshman Clare Gallagher and sophomore Greta Feldman.
Both teams will have the upcoming weekend to recover before the season’s busy second half kicks off. Runners not attending Pre-Nationals will host the Tigers’ only home meet, the Princeton Invitational, at West Windsor Fields.
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