The Big Green's top runners were resting this past weekend, revealing a glimpse into the bright future of Dartmouth cross country. Competing at New England Championships in Boston, the younger side of the men's squad finished an impressive sixth in the field of 45, while the women took 25th.
"I was extremely happy with the efforts of our younger runners," men's coach Barry Harwick said. The men were led by Alex Hall '10, whose time of 25:20 earned him 25th place out of over 300 runners. Hall was followed by classmate Kevin Treadway '10, just nine seconds behind in 36th place.
"This will be a confidence boost for them and a great sign for our strong future," Harwick said.
In the sub-varsity race, Dartmouth's young talent also made a strong showing. Andy Han '09 took home first place with a time of 25:31. Winning a cross country race is never an easy feat, but a first place finish at historic Franklin Park is especially significant.
"Franklin Park is the site of many championship events so it is important that our guys learn to race well there," Harwick said.
"This was the fourth time I've run there," Han said. "Before the race, I had picked out what I thought would be a good place to make a move, between mile three and four. I was chasing the leader then and making a move proved to be the right thing to do."
In the women's race, Dartmouth's rookie runners also made a big impression. Kat Eidmann '10 started the scoring off in 26th place with a time of 18:23 seconds over the 3.1-mile course. She was followed by Laura Tabor '10, whose time of 18:58 was good enough for 71st place in the field of 314.
"Kat and Laura had great performances. Both ran personal bests and broke 19:00 for the first time at Franklin Park," coach Maribel Souther said.
"I felt awesome in the race yesterday," Eidmann said. Her time of 18:23 was a personal record by 48 seconds, a huge accomplishment. "I'm from Winchester, Mass. and it felt great to be back at Franklin, running the same course that I ran in high school."
Competing without any of their top seven runners, both teams certainly surpassed expectations. The cream of Dartmouth's crop was resting in preparation for the NCAA Pre-National meet, to be held in Indiana this coming weekend.
"This [will be] the first time this season that we will have our top seven guys together," Harwick said. "This is an experienced group that ran very well at the meet last year and I expect the same next Saturday."
In contrast, Souther commented that "our team is young, so pre-nats will be a good experience for them."
For the men, who are nationally ranked, next weekend's race is especially important. Their rank has been slipping slightly, from No. 17 to 23 to 26 this week. With all their top runners back in action, the team will finally have a chance to fully prove itself.
Last year's Heps champion and Dartmouth's top runner, Ben True '08, will also be returning to action next week. True has been nursing an injury so far this season, but will hopefully lead the Big Green in a successful race next weekend.
