Cross Country: Runners trounce opposition

The Tigers didn’t disappoint. Both the No. 17 men’s and No. 19 women’s teams gave performances that Princeton — and the Ivy League itself — won’t soon forget. Princeton finished at the top of the rosters, both individually and as a team, at each of the day’s meets. Junior captains Donn Cabral and Alex Banfich, winners of the respective men’s and women’s races, gave races for the meets’ record books.

At Heps, the Ancient Eight competes for the Ivy League title. The conference holds the meet three times a year for cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The fall competition takes place at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. At Heps, men race on a 5-mile course, while women race on a 5-kilometer course.

The women’s team started the day’s competitions on a strong note. Banfich finished her race in 16 minutes, 58.9 seconds, the second-fastest time in Heps history. This time is three seconds shy of the all-time record, set last year by fellow Princetonian Liz Costello ’10. If history is any sign, then Banfich has what it takes to make this improvement. In only a year, the junior improved her time by 14 seconds.

Banfich was certainly not alone on the meet’s scoreboard. The rest of Princeton’s five scorers all finished in the top 11 spots. Senior Ashley Higginson finished fourth in 17:27.1. Sophomore Mel Newbery followed in eighth at 17:45.7. Senior Sarah Cummings and sophomore Abby Levene finished ninth and 11th, respectively. Newbery and Levene are both also staff writers for The Daily Princetonian.

The women’s high placing earned them 33 points overall. Columbia, their closest competition, earned 60 points — nearly double the Tigers’ score. Harvard and Yale, which Princeton raced earlier this fall at the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet, fared worse. The Crimson placed fifth, while the Bulldogs finished last.

The men continued the Tigers’ winning streak. Cabral had come down with a cold before the meet — a misfortune that every runner fears. But Cabral didn’t let his illness affect his race. His time, 24:03.8, was the second fastest in Heps history and 10.2 seconds ahead of the 2009 champion’s finish. Even without looking at the clock, spectators could tell Cabral was making history. His closest competition was nearly 11 seconds behind.

Despite his impressive finish, Cabral didn’t steal the show. Princeton’s other scoring runners kept the Tigers in the lead with team points. Junior Brian Leung finished fifth in 24:35.6, while senior Kyle Soloff took sixth with a time of 24:37.8. Senior Mark Amirault and junior Max Kaulbach finished eighth and 13th, respectively.

“For me, the most memorable moment was coming into the chute and seeing Mark and Kyle right behind me,” Leung said in an e-mail. “I knew then that we had most likely won, and I definitely cherished finishing with so much team camaraderie.”

This camaraderie has been an ongoing theme of the men’s season. The Tigers’ monumental improvements over their performance last year owe not only to Cabral and Leung’s consistently strong races, but also to time improvements across the board. Last year, Princeton lost the Ivy League title to Columbia by a single point. This year, the men finished with 33 points. Dartmouth trailed the Tigers with 55 points. The Lions finished third with 94. Princeton has improved with each meet this season, and the team hopes that this momentum will lead to a strong showing in the end of the season.

“Our team morale has never been better and we have an extremely healthy attitude going into the championship season,” Leung noted. “It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally ready to mark Princeton as a premier distance program.”

Both the men’s and the women’s teams had fall breaks free of competition. However, qualifiers will journey to Penn State next Saturday to race in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet. This race opens the championship season that will conclude at the NCAA championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 22.