While most Dartmouth students celebrated Homecoming this weekend, the cross country teams were competing half way across the country. The Big Green cross country teams departed on Thursday for Terre Haute, Ind. where they raced in NCAA pre-nationals.
With many schools competing, pre-nationals were divided into three separate divisions. The Dartmouth women triumphed in the Open race, taking first place out of 13 teams. Dartmouth's women tallied 67 points, besting second place Kansas by 40. Harvard, the only other Ivy competitor, took sixth place with 150 points.
"The meet directors felt that our team wasn't good enough to run in the more competitive race. But, we proved them wrong by easily winning the Open race," explained coach Maribel Souther.
Susan Dunklee '08 led Dartmouth's charge with an 11th place finish. Her time of 21:48 for the 6k course was 34 seconds out of first place. Dunklee was followed closely by her teammates as Dartmouth's top five all finished within just over a minute of each other.
Caitlin Cunningham '09 was Dartmouth's second scorer in 24th place. Cunningham was followed by the rookie trio of Ali Smrcina '10, Kat Eidmann '10 and Blair Sullivan '10. The course in Terre Haute was a six kilometer race, slightly longer than the 5k distance most of these young runners are used to racing.
"It did make yesterday's race a little more challenging," Souther said. "The course was also deceivingly difficult with the long gradual hills," she added. Smrcina, Eidmann and Sullivan rose to the challenge however, racking up 43, 57 and 69th place finishes out of the nearly 230 racers.
Dartmouth's men competed in the Blue race against 36 teams, placing 15th. Colorado won the race with a total of 75 points, while Dartmouth tallied 416.
The Big Green was led by Ben True '08, competing for the first time this fall after recovering from a leg injury. True turned in a time of 24:11 over the 8k course to place 27th and was followed immediately by Steve Mucchetti '07, just one second back and in 28th place.
Captain Alex Wall '08 was third for Dartmouth with a time of 24:54 in 103rd place. Harry Norton '08 was just five seconds behind in 122nd. Pat Dooley '09 rounded out the scoring, finishing in 136th place.
With True's injury as well as other unforeseen circumstances, pre-nationals turned out to be the first time that Dartmouth's top seven men were all competing together.
"We beat some nationally ranked teams today," coach Barry Harwick said, "but I wish we had done a little bit better."
The Dartmouth men and women next turn their attention to the Mayor's Cup in Boston this Sunday. The Hep Championships are quickly approaching as well, scheduled for October 27. There, the Dartmouth men will attempt to defend their team title, while True will also run for a second straight individual victory.
While the men's team is just beginning to hit its stride this season, the women's team has been enjoying steady success and building momentum. They will certainly take heart from their impressive showing at pre-nationals.
"The team seems to thrive on adversity and welcome the challenge," Souther said. "The meet was an inspiring learning experience for our young team."
