Ben True '08 and Glenn Randall '09 will go on to race in the NCAA Cross Country Championships as the Dartmouth men's and women's cross country teams finished fourth and 13th, respectively, at the NCAA Regionals on Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City.
True and Randall finished in the top 10 overall on the men's side, securing bids to the national meet on Monday, Nov. 24 in Terra Haute, Ind. True led Dartmouth with a third-place finish on the 10-kilometer course in 31:26. Randall was not far behind, crossing the line in eighth place with a time of 31:48.
Dartmouth raced against a field of 36 teams from all over New England. Iona College won the race with authority, finishing with a total of 46 points, followed by Providence College with 88 points. The top two teams in regional competition automatically qualify for the NCAA championships as well.
Mohamed Khadraoui of Iona won the race in a time of 31:11.
The Big Green finished behind Columbia to take fourth place with 122 points. After finishing behind the Big Red at the Heptagonal Championships two weeks ago, the men's team avenged their loss, beating Cornell at Regionals. Dartmouth also finished ahead of other Ivy competitors Harvard, Yale and Brown and perennial cross country powerhouse Syracuse University.
"As a team, we had a pretty good day out there," Randall said. "We had a really good performance from Chris Zablocki '10, who had an awesome race. We also beat Cornell, who beat us at the Ivy Championships, so that was great. We didn't qualify for NCAAs as a team, but Ben True and I will be representing Dartmouth at Indiana next week."
In addition to excellent performances from seniors True and Randall, Dartmouth also had an impressive run from junior Zablocki, who finished in 23rd place overall with a time of 32:40. Because Zablocki finished in the top 25 in the race, he was named to the All-Northeast Regional team. Rounding out the race for the Big Green were juniors Alex Hall '10 and Kevin Treadway '10, who finished the course in 33:09 and 33:11, respectively.
"It was really awesome to do something for the team," Zablocki said. "We had a plan for our 3-7 guys to go out slow so we wouldn't use up our energy in the mud field the first mile, and so we could work together at making things happen the rest of the race. We were through the first 5k, but then the train fell apart a little. I really wish it hadn't because I'm usually the one who has trouble keeping up, and if it had been that way today, our team would have qualified for Nationals."
On the women's side, Dartmouth faced 36 other teams from New England, finishing 13th with 433 points. Providence won the team championship with 36 points, while Syracuse finished second with 90 points. Both teams qualified for the NCAA Championships in Indiana next week.
The Big Green women finished behind the United States Military Academy and ahead of Quinnipiac University. Dartmouth also finished behind the other Ivy competitors Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Brown and Yale. Dartmouth beat Yale at the Ivy League Championships two weeks ago.
Leading the Big Green was Elizabeth Short '12, who covered the six-kilometer course with a time of 22:59, good enough for 55th place overall. Senior Aryn Gruneisen '09 was behind Short, placing 69th with a time of 23:07.
The other finishers for Dartmouth were captain Caitlin Cunningham '09, Amy Schuman '12 and Ali Smrcina '10.
Danette Doetzel of Providence won the women's race in 20:56.
The Northeast Regional is one of nine regional qualifying races held to determine the field at NCAA Nationals.
