With a strong performance this weekend in the IC4As and ECAC Championships the men's and women's cross country teams earned themselves a trip to the NCAA National Championships next week in Ames, Iowa.
To qualify for the championships, the Big Green cross country teams needed to place in the top two of the New England (District 1). Both Big Green teams did just that, finishing second behind top ranked Providence inside their district.
In all district competition of the ECACs the Dartmouth women placed third overall behind Providence and District 2 winners Villanova. The men ran a strong seventh in the IC4A's. Georgetown won the overall competition.
Women look strong
For the women, who have been ranked as high as 18th nationally this season, qualifying for the NCAAs was not unexpected since Dartmouth had beaten all the other District 1 teams during the season.
The Big Green ran in their traditional form -- strong, tight and fast to overscore their opponents.
Maribel Sanchez '96 led Dartmouth with a fleet time of 17:17, finishing in eighth place. A mere 15 seconds later, three other Big Green runners blazed across the line.
Kristen Manwaring '96, who had a slight fall in the last 400 meters, cruised through the course in 17:32, followed by Deirdre Milligan '98 in 17:36 and Jenna Rogers '98 in 17:36.
The ECACs were by far the stiffest competition that the women have faced this season, bringing together both District 1 and District 2 teams.
In District 2 competition, which ran with the District 1 teams, the times were even faster. The Big Green placed third overall in the combined division.
For the women, who feel they are consistently underranked in the national polls, running against top-ranked teams allowed them to prove just how strong a team they are.
Manwaring said the ECACs, "allows the opportunity to race weaker teams that have been historically ranked higher nationally [than us]."
Dartmouth will have the chance to show exactly how high they rank nationally in Iowa next Monday at the NCAAs.
"We want to do more than just qualify for the nationals and show up, we should be in the top 10," Manwaring said. "However, if one or two girls have a great day we should easily do better than that."
Men place second in District 1
For the men, the IC4A's presented a greater challenge. Not only did the Big Green have to make the leap from the standard regular season distance of 8k (5 miles) to the championship distance of 10k (6.2 miles), but Dartmouth also had to adjust to running alongside 250 other competitors.
With both Districts 1 and 2 running alongside each other, the Big Green found the race confusing as the extra runners dispersed Dartmouth's contact with District 1 competitors.
Despite not knowing where other runners were during the race and running five quarters of a mile longer, Dartmouth managed to finish second in the district and qualify for the NCAAs.
Qualifying is nothing new for the men, who will make their third straight trip to the NCAA Championships.
Individually, the Big Green men showed that All-America honors are not out of their grasps.
Captain Jack Dwyer '96 once again led the Big Green attack , running a fleet time of 30:34 to place fourth in District 1 and 13th overall.
Marc McDonald '96, Dartmouth's number five runner, had arguably the greatest races of his career finishing 32nd in District 1. Christopher Langan '96 finished in 30:57, while Aaron Schumacher '98 and freshman Dan Conrad all helped solidify Dartmouth's place at Nationals.