Cross Country: No. 11 men, No. 22 women look for more postseason success

The men’s and women’s cross country seasons promise to be equally as exciting and successful as last year’s dual-championship campaign. Both Tiger squads finished in first place during their opening competition at the Fordham Fiasco Invitational, but the runners have their eyes set on several important meets at later dates on the schedule and, of course, the title races at its conclusion.

On Saturday, the Princeton men sent four of the first six finishers across the line at Fordham, earning a score of 26 points. Navy, the closest competitor that day, finished 15 points behind, while Yale, the closest Ivy challenger, was more than 60 points behind the Tigers. Interestingly, the total distance of this meet was inadvertently shortened to less than five miles when the lead pack made a wrong turn and part of the final loop was cut off.

Leading the pack and finishing first overall, senior co-captain Donn Cabral came in with a time of 25 minutes, 30.37 seconds. Cabral was named All-America last season and easily won the individual Heptagonal championship. Twelve seconds after Cabral finished, freshman Eddie Owens captured second place for the Tigers. The next two Princeton runners, senior co-captain and All-America Brian Leung and sophomore Tyler Udland, finished just one second apart, securing fifth and sixth places.

Also with an impressive showing at Fordham, the Princeton women’s team grabbed four of the top 10 spots. On the five-kilometer course, the first Tiger to finish was sophomore Clare Gallagher at 18:23.83, fourth among collegiate runners. Within less than one second, junior Alexis Mikaelian and freshman Emily de la Bruyere took sixth and seventh place, respectively. The Orange and Black collected 34 points, edging out Yale and Penn.

In the preseason poll, the Princeton men’s team was ranked 11th in the nation, the highest slot of any Ivy League team and tops in the Mid-Atlantic region. With only two seniors departing and seven new freshmen coming in, the team expects to contend for championship titles again this season. Head coach Steve Dolan, the 2010 Regional Coach of the Year, led his team to a 12th place finish at the 2010 NCAAs — the best finish in team history. The Orange and Black also won the Ivy League Heptagonal and Mid-Atlantic Regional competitions last fall.

“Our team was 12th at nationals last year, but we’re coming off great summers of training,” Cabral said. “With the development of our returners and the incoming freshmen, we are poised to come back much stronger than last year.”

Nearly three weeks elapse between the Fordham first-place finish and the men’s next race on Sept. 30. The squad will send some members to the Paul Short Invitational and others to the Notre Dame Invitational. Then another two-week hiatus from racing will conclude with the Wisconsin Invitational, where the Tigers expect to face some fierce opponents.

“We’ll have our first big test on Sept. 30 at the Notre Dame Invitational against some great teams, but two weeks after that we’ll see the toughest competition in the country — aside from the national championships — at the Wisconsin Invitational,” said Cabral.

The first opportunity to watch the Tigers race on campus will be the Princeton Invitational on Oct. 15. Two weeks later, the team will run in the Ivy League Championship on its own course at West Windsor fields. As Cabral noted, the team looks to win its fifth title in six years on that day.

Like its counterpart, the women’s team also made a splash in the national preseason poll, ranking 22nd as the only Ivy League team listed. After last season, Princeton graduated two important point scorers but has since recruited nine freshmen that are already contributing great things to the team.

In the 2010 season, the Orange and Black grabbed their fifth straight Heps title and eighth straight bid to the NCAAs. The team finished 15th overall, which was significantly better than expected based on rankings. Returning to lead the team this year is senior captain Alex Banfich. Last fall she won the individual Heps title, crossing the line with the second-fastest time in history. She went on to finish in fourth place at the regional race and 20th at nationals, earning All-America honors.

“Its easy to be intimidated — we graduated quite a few seniors who were consistent top five finishers [Ashley Higginson ‘11, Sarah Cummings ‘11], and having won the Ivy League Championships the past five years, Princeton definitely has a target on its back within the Ivy League,” Banfich said. “However, we have just as much to be optimistic about — we have a large freshman class that will definitely contribute to the varsity team, and returners like Alexis Mikaelian and [junior] Greta Feldman and Clare Gallagher have all noticeably improved from last year. Although we have some large shoes to fill, I’m confident that we’re up for the challenge.”

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The next competition for the Tigers will be the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet on Saturday. Princeton has been undefeated at this race since 2003. After this weekend, the women’s team has an identical schedule to the men’s team for the remainder of the season.

“We will race Harvard and Yale this weekend, but our real test will come two weeks later at Notre Dame where we will see how we stack up nationally,” Banfich said. “Everyone has worked really hard over the summer and looked great in the past few weeks of practice.”

Both teams continue to train hard in anticipation of their upcoming races with dreams that another successful season will be even better than last year’s.