Big Three look to reinstate head-to-head XC competition

For the first time in years, Princeton cross country will confront Harvard and Yale on Friday in a head-to-head meet. The Tiger men have not participated in this Ivy League tradition since 1997, after winning the race two consecutive years and determining that the competition was in some ways below them.

“A number of years ago our old coach decided, to put it nicely, not to bother with Harvard and Yale because at the time neither of their programs were on the same level as ours,” senior captain Matt McDonald said. “We realized last year at the Ivy League championships that [those programs] have come a long way since then, and so we’re excited to show them what we are made of so early in the season.”

The women’s team has participated more recently, winning the meet in both 2011 and 2010, but has not competed for the past two years.

“One of the really exciting things about this is that the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet is a very quintessential Ivy competition, and it’s a great opportunity to actually compete against the teams we’ll be working against in the Ivy League Championships,” senior captain Lindsay Eysenbach said. “We only have a few girls who have competed in it before, so we’re super excited to have it again.”

Both teams aim to win and send a strong message to their opponents.

“Based on last year’s Heps, Yale has the second best returning team, so they’re going to be very good this year,” McDonald said. “So our coach has specifically set out the goal for us to show them what kind of shape we are in and that we plan to win the title this year.”

“We want to beat Harvard and Yale because they’re two of our biggest rivals,” Eysenbach said. “We also think that winning would give us a lot of momentum going into the season.”

Although the Princeton team will see Harvard and Yale at a few other meets this year, this is the only head-to-head matchup against Ivy League competitors outside of Heps. For some runners, this more intimate feel creates a unique atmosphere.

“There’s sort of a sense that you’re competing against a team instead of a mass of 300 people,” Eysenbach said.

The Tiger men are fielding several strong runners, especially returning scorers McDonald and seniors Sam Pons and Eddie Owens. A strong new class of 13 freshmen will also enter the field. Putting up especially strong times at the moment are freshmen Noah Kauppila and Wolfgang Beck.

Eddie Owens is a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

The Princeton women’s team will return four of their five scoring runners for cross country: Eysenbach, sophomore Megan Curham, junior Katherine Fleuhr, and junior Katie Little. Co-captain for the team, senior Erika Fluehr, was injured last fall but should have a strong showing this year. The team also have eleven new freshmen who are excited to race in their first collegiate event.

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The teams expect to face some challenges, including Yale’s hilly course — entirely grass, which might be difficult for runners training on the track — and, for the men’s team, an especially strong competitor in Yale’s runner Kevin Dooney. However, they are undeterred.

“Harvard and Yale are both going to be very good,” McDonald said, “but we’re looking forward to showing them just how good the Tigers are.”