Men aim to take back Ivy Championship, perform at nationals
On Sept. 12 in New Haven, Conn., senior Sam Pons led the Princeton men’s cross country team to victory against Harvard and Yale and to an exciting start for their fall season.
The Tigers hope to use this momentum to help take back the Ivy League title from Columbia, who won the Heptagonals Championships race last year.
“This is the first year in four or five years where we are not defending the Ivy League title,” senior co-captain Connor Martin said. “We’re the hunters, and we’re hungry.”
The team graduated its top three runners last year but remains strong with a talented senior class and an impressive group of freshmen.
“We have a solid core of four seniors right now,” senior co-captain Matt McDonald said, referring to himself, Pons, Eddie Owens and Mike Mazzaccaro. Owens is a former associate sports editor for The Daily Princetonian. Also in the top seven right now are juniors Michael Sublette and Sam Berger as well as sophomore William Paulson.
McDonald describes the freshman class as “stellar.” Although the team is young, the captains are excited to help the freshmen adjust to collegiate training and competition.
“They’re probably the number one recruiting class in the nation,” Martin said.
The team expects tough competition, particularly from Columbia, Yale and Dartmouth, but it looks forward to the challenge.
“It’s a lot more enjoyable to come from behind where everyone is cheering for you than it is to come from on top and fight for your title,” McDonald said.
The team also has loftier goals for the season, aiming to compete at nationals and even earn a program-best finish by placing in the top 10 teams. To do so, the Tigers hope to perform well both at regionals and to garner important “at-large” points in earlier meets. To qualify for the NCAA championship, the team must either place in the top two for its region or earn points by beating out-of-region teams that ultimately qualify for the NCAA in their respective areas.
“We have a team that can do well nationally and perform well in the meets that precede Heps as well,” coach Jason Vigilante said.
Most of all, Vigilante hopes runners will perform at their individual bests.
“My goal for the team is that we live up to our potential,” he said.
Women’s team optimistic about winning Ivy League
Led by sophomore and All-American Megan Curham, the women’s cross country team placed all five scoring runners within the overall top seven at New Haven on Sept. 12, kicking off the season with a dramatic victory against Harvard and Yale.
This win is a promising start for the year, as the women hope to retake the Ivy League title. The title was last theirs in 2010. Last year, the team placed fourth behind Dartmouth, Cornell and Harvard.
“We’re trying to win Heps as our main goal,” senior captain Lindsay Eysenbach said.
Unlike the above teams, Princeton is returning all but one of its previous top seven runners. And at the HYP meet, some new runners stepped up to the competition. Freshman Natalie Rathjen placed seventh, finishing fifth for Princeton, and sophomore Nicole Marvin and freshman Gabi Forrest also placed in the top 10 overall.
“The team raced even faster than I thought they would,” coach Peter Farrell said.
The Tigers seek to do more than just perform at the Heptagonal Championships.
“We’re trying to build off getting to nationals last year and actually perform at nationals this year,” senior co-captain Erika Fluehr said.
To compete at nationals, the women must either place second in their region or win a number of “at-large” points for beating other top-two teams from other regions.
“We are probably in the toughest region in the country. Georgetown and Villanova are perennial powerhouses,” Farrell said. However, he believes the team’s chances are good. “We have made it eight of the past 10 years,” Farrell noted.
Important upcoming competitions include the Notre Dame meet and the pre-nationals meet, both in Indiana. Challenges include tough opposition and the perennial battle to stay healthy and resist injury through a hard season of training.
Despite the challenges, the team is excited for another season of competition.
“Every day is a great day to be part of the Princeton women’s cross country program,” Farrell said.
Heps for both men and women will be held at Princeton on the West Windsor Fields course on Nov. 1.
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