The Big Green runners put on a show of depth this weekend at the New England Championships in Boston, giving the top seven runners on each team a weekend of rest as the men finished fourth and the women 23rd with their second varsity teams.
Leading the charge for the men was Matt Davis '08, whose time of 25:23 put him in 13th place, five seconds out of the top ten. Despite the team's strong showing, Davis wasn't content with the team's performance. "The conditions got worse as the day went on; it was not a day for fast times," said Davis. "A few guys ran well, but we hope to be much more consistent across the board by the end of the season."
Dartmouth's men finished with a total of 189 points, 22 points behind third-place Harvard. Brown dusted the competition, taking first overall with a score of 40, as all of its runners came across in the top 20. Those are numbers that added up nicely in the eyes of Dartmouth coach Barry Hartwick, who expressed his satisfaction with his second team's strong performance. "To finish fourth out of 47 teams with our second group was a really strong effort," he said. "The three teams that beat us all ran their best seven runners. There is no doubt that our varsity would have won easily."
George McArdle '06 (34th, 25:59), Bart van Vehgel '06 (46th,in 26:11), Owen Marcotte '08 (47th, 26:11) and Vinny Olsen '09 (49th, 26:14) completed the scoring, and rounding out the top seven were Jeff Englehutt '07 (87th, 26:50) and Grant Allen '08 (184th, 27:42).
The Dartmouth women finished with 616 points, and the team's top runner, Elisa McCarthy '08, finishing 79th overall in 19:29.
Megan Olds'06 (107th, 19:44),Susan Abramczyk '06 (117th, 19:53), Chelsea Little '09 (145th, 20:11) and Natalie Todd-Zebell '09 (172nd, 20:27) helped complete the scoring for the women, while Julie Plevin '09 (175th, 20:31) and Kristin Ricci '08 (219th, 21:07) completed the team's top seven.
Both the men and women will be sending their seven best to the pre-NCAA meet in Indiana next weekend, fully rested from taking this weekend off. It's an important event by all accounts and Hartwick is expecting big things from his men's team. "There are over 70 of the top teams in the country entered. Off the top of my head I would expect us to finish in the top 10 as a team," he said. The men continue their bid to climb the national polls (Dartmouth is currently ranked No. 22 in the country) while the women similarly are looking to impress on the national stage.
Pre-NCAA's will be held in Terra Haute, Ind., on the campus of Indiana State on the weekend of Oct. 15-16.
