The Big Green cross country teams ran into a nationally stacked field at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., this Saturday, but proved up to the challenge with strong finishes on both the men's and women's side. The men finished fifth out of 33 in the blue race, propelling them into the top 15 Division I programs nationally, while the women placed 19th out of 34 in the white race, led by the top-10 finish of Melanie Schorr '06.
The race was hosted by Indiana State at the LaVern Gibson championship course, which saw 77 men's teams and 79 women's teams from across the nation competing against each other, each field split into "blue" and "white" races.
The field for the men's blue race saw several nationally-ranked teams competing against each other, and No. 5 Stanford proved worthy of moving up to a No. 4 ranking after their well-run race, finishing first with 89 points. Dartmouth, ranked 22nd at race time, took fifth with 237 points, close behind fourth-place Kansas (231) and third-place Georgetown (222).
Said men's coach Barry Harwick of the competition, "There were 2 races at the Pre-Meet; between them they had 23 of the top 30 teams in the country. We beat several nationally ranked teams: Florida State, Ohio State, Indiana, Cal Poly, NC State and Virginia."
Ben True '08 again led the way for the men, finishing 25th in 24:15.5, while teammates Dave Burnham '06 and Alec Wall '08 were right on his heels, coming in at 24:19.5 and 24:22.8, 31st and 35th respectively.
"Our guys have been working well together in practice so it was great to see them do the same thing in a big race where it is easy to get really spread out," Harwick said.
Even with Dartmouth's notable showing, Wall was quick to point out that several of the runners felt they could have run better.
"The fact that we were able to [finish fifth] with four of our top five [runners] having an off day speaks to our level of fitness," Wall said. "It gives us tremendous confidence going into the last half of the season."
Ian Marcus '07 and Steve Mucchetti '06 completed the scoring for the men, finishing 47th and 99th in 24:32.0 and 25:03.4, respectively.
The men certainly demonstrated their potential with an outstanding performance on the national stage, and have seen their efforts rewarded with a top ranking in the Northeast and a No. 14 ranking nationally, both of which are the amongst the highest for Dartmouth cross country in recent memory.
Running in a similarly loaded field in the white race, the Big Green women saw No. 2 Michigan take first with 86 points and their top 5 all finishing amongst the first 25, while Dartmouth came in at 19th with 463 points, only a handful of points behind the 14th through 18th place teams.
Schorr blazed along the course to finish ninth in 20:43.1, while Hilary Dionne '07 and Susan Dunklee '08 also completed impressive runs, finishing 31st in 21:17.8 and 44th in 21:31.5, respectively.
"This was the most competitive race of the season so far, so for us to put three runners in the top 50 is really great," said Schorr. "My goal going into the race was top 15, but I felt really good off the start and decided to get up with the front pack of runners, and that strategy worked well."
Rounding out the top five for the Lady Green were Anna Greskovich '08, taking 186th overall in 23:18.6, and Meredith Curtis '06, who finished 193rd in 23:28.8.
Women's coach Maribel Sanchez Souther noted that, although the team is having difficulty with consistency beyond its top three runners, the squad is still young and will improve with experience, as well as with the return of veterans who are injured.
"We have a lot of confident runners who just aren't healthy. We're a very young team -- once our athletes get experience and get healthy, we have a lot more potential to be better than we have been," Souther said.
"Right now, I'm definitely focusing on getting as many of my individual athletes to qualify for NCAAs as possible," the coach continued.
Having successfully tackled Pre-Nationals, the men now have their eyes set on an Ivy League title.
"Our goals for the rest of the season are relatively simple," Wall said. "We want to win Heps [the Heptagonal Championship] and qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships by finishing in the top two at the northeast regional meet. And after our performance on Saturday, I would say that a top-15 finish is a very realistic goal [for NCAAs]."
Likewise, Souther is looking to get strong races out of her top three at the coming meet.
"Melanie, Hilary and Susan are running really well," Souther said. "I think we can get three runners in the top 12 [at Heps], which would be really great."
The top seven of both teams will be taking a weekend off from racing to prepare for Heps, which are to be held in New York City on Oct. 28. The second varsity squads will be gauging their progress and acquiring more racing experience as they compete at the Mayor's Cup in Boston next Sunday, Oct. 23.
