Cross Country: Tigers set for pre-nationals

The men’s and women’s cross country teams will be very busy this weekend, as both squads are competing in the Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind., and the Princeton Invitational. The Pre-Nationals meet will be held on the same course as the NCAA championships so that teams can gain experience before competing for the national title.

The men’s team, which recently finished in third place at the Wisconsin Invitational, will send its top runners to pre-nationals. Junior Donn Cabral — who beat out Indiana’s Andrew Bayer by a slim 0.4-second margin to win the Wisconsin Invitational — will lead the Tigers. After their strong performance in Wisconsin — where Princeton beat out nationally ranked Syracuse, Oklahoma and Providence — the team’s national ranking rose to No. 12, from No. 23.

With Heptagonals in two weeks and the NCAA championships on Nov. 22, the Tigers are looking forward to improve each race.

“We approach the season like a progression,” Cabral said. “Even though we line up against some very good teams in early September, we know that the races that matter most are in late October and November. We make sure we get our hard training in throughout the season, even if it slows us down for the early races. Now that post-season is getting nearer, we’re focusing more and more on racing, not training.”

The women’s team, ranked No. 15 in the country, will also be going into this weekend with excitement. After finishing seventh at the Notre Dame Invitational and second at the Paul Short Invitational earlier this month, the Tigers have done some solid training over the past two weeks.

The Tigers will also send a group of eight runners to pre-nationals. Although slightly disappointed by their last performance at Notre Dame two weeks ago, the girls have gained more experience and are looking forward to the opportunity to move up in national rankings.

“At pre-nationals we will face a similar caliber of competition as we did at Notre Dame,” senior Sarah Cummings said. “For some of the underclassmen, Notre Dame was their first experience with national-level collegiate competition. Now that they have Notre Dame under their belts, they are far more prepared to race at pre-nationals.”

“I think everyone is pretty excited to get some experience on the nationals course,” junior Alex Banfich said. “There will also be great competition and a chance to see where we stand after so many weeks of training.”

Runners not competing in pre-nationals will race in the Princeton Invitational on Saturday morning. Both teams are looking forward to strong performances against other nationally ranked teams in the event.

The Princeton men will have the opportunity to face off against runners from No. 18 Iona and No. 29 Texas, while the women will run against last year’s top three finishers: Columbia, South Carolina and St. Joseph’s.

The Princeton Invitational meet will start with the men’s 8-kilometer race at 10:30 a.m., which will be followed shortly by the women’s 6-kilometer race at 11:15 a.m., at West Windsor Fields.