The defense of Dartmouth's championship title was built up to be a duel between the Big Green and the Princeton Tigers, but easily devolved into a dismaying third place finish for Dartmouth.
Princeton captured the title with 50 points, while Columbia blindsided the Big Green, stealing second place with 63 points. Dartmouth finished with 97 points, almost twice the score of the team they were expected to rival.
"We had a great chance of winning if we could just run our race and be smooth and confident. Unfortunately, it didn't play out that way," True said.
"It's clear to me that Princeton and Columbia ran a much tougher race than we did," Steve Mucchetti '07 said. Mucchetti placed fourth, running 30 seconds faster than his previous personal record at Van Cortland Park. Both Mucchetti and True earned first team All-Ivy honors.
Despite stellar performances by True and Mucchetti, Dartmouth's depth wasn't enough to challenge for the championship. The top five scorers for both Princeton and Columbia finished ahead of Dartmouth's third man.
"We did not perform nearly as well as a team as we expected," coach Barry Harwick said. "That gave Princeton a relatively easy win and allowed Columbia to get by us too."
"I know that we have all been working out great and have the ability to run fast, but unfortunately we haven't been able to put it all together in a race," True said.
In the women's race, Dartmouth's young squad continued to improve. The Big Green ladies took home sixth place, one notch higher than their finish a year ago.
"We did what we were capable of and we expect to continue to improve upon our sixth place next year," coach Maribel Souther said.
Captain Susan Dunklee '08 led the women, placing 14th. After Dunklee, Dartmouth's score was tallied by Caitlin Cunningham '09 and three freshmen: Blair Sullivan, Ali Smrcina and Laura Tabor.
The Big Green will return all of its top runners to next year's Heptagonal Championship, ready to make an even bigger impression.
"They handled this big meet with excitement, composure and confidence. They now know what to expect and next year, they will be physically and mentally ready," Souther said.
Both teams now turn their focus to the NCAA District I regional qualifier when they will return to the same course at Van Cortland Park.
For the men, regionals will provide a second shot to prove they can still put together the kind of great race that won them the Heps championship last year.
"Basically right now we have to run perfectly to have a chance of qualifying, something that we are extremely capable of doing -- just haven't been able to all season," True said. With two weeks until their next race, the team will have some time to reevaluate.
"There isn't necessarily anything we can do in terms of our training to improve our performance. It's more a matter of being mentally sharp on race day, which is something we've been struggling with all year," Mucchetti said.
As for the women, they will continue to focus on the positive aspects of their racing and take advantage of their mounting momentum.
"We will continue to work on our pack running and other strengths," Souther said. "We still have work to do."
The NCAA regional qualifiers will take place on Nov. 11.
