The Big Green men's cross country team finished fourth overall in the NCAA regional meet on Saturday in Madison, Conn., while the women's team placed eighth. The Dartmouth men received 138 points for fourth, while the women took eighth with 271 points. Neither team received an at-large bid to the National meet.
"If we had beaten Providence [College], we would have a decent chance of getting an at-large bid," men's head coach Barry Harwick said. "We ran OK today, not our best. If we had run our best, we would have finished third."
Only the first and second-place teams at regionals automatically qualify for the National meet.
Co-captain Tom Robbins '11 said he was "fairly disappointed" with the way the men's team performed during the race.
The Big Green men were led by Ethan Shaw '12 who took 18th place with a time of 30:25:6. Following just one place behind was teammate Phil Royer '13 with a time of 30:31:2.
Robbins, Adam Doherty '13, Jonathan Gault '13, Peter Jankovsky '12 and Brad Kenimer '12 finished 24th, 33rd, 44th, 47th and 164th, respectively.
Gault is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
Syracuse University and Iona University will automatically advance to Nationals due to their first and second-place finishes. Syracuse earned 56 points and Iona 63. Providence College edged out the Big Green, finishing with 113 points, for third place.
The women's freshman class constituted four of the top seven runners for the Big Green over the weekend. Hannah Rowe '14 took 37th place in a time of 21:17:0 and Amy Schuman '12 came in half a second behind. Caitie Meyer '14, Bridget End '14, co-captain Lizzie Short '12, Alexi Pappas '12 and Katelyn Walker '14 rounded out the lineup for the women and finished within just over a minute of one another.
Overall, the season was very successful, according to Harwick. The team's second-place finish at the Ivy Heptagonal was their best race of the year, he said, while the team also earned first place at the Dartmouth Invitational, Keene Invitational and the New England Championships.
"We have earned tons of valuable experience this season and, hopefully next season, will be even better than this year," Harwick said. "We will return six of the team's top seven runners. However, Robbins' good leadership and running will be missed."
"What I will miss most is running and working out with my best friends on campus," Robbins said. "When the '11s came in, the program was not doing so well and I hope the upswing of the last four years will continue to progress."
Harwick predicts a lot of competition within the team next season because of the large number of returning runners as well as the incoming recruits.
Short said she felt "the team rounded out the season on a high note" and the regional meet was the best collective race of the season.
Syracuse University, Stony Brook University and Providence College were the top finishing teams earning 78, 83 and 87 points, respectively. Columbia University and Brown University were the top Ivy League schools to beat the Big Green.
"The women ran their best race all year," women's assistant coach Mark Coogan said. "The [Ivy Championships] were not our best, so I am very happy with how we did today."
Coogan added that Rowe, Schuman and Meyer all had an exceptional race.
"Our season goals were not all achieved, but today we meet our expectations," Coogan said.
An eighth-place overall finish in the Northeast region is the best the women have done in the last five years.
The women feel confident that they will continue to improve. On the bus back from the race, the coaches already began discussing next season and the benefit of so many returning freshmen.
Coogan said that, despite having no seniors racing in the regional meet, the graduating class provided good leadership and always pushed the rest of the team to do the right thing. The team's seniors are Lauren Campfield '11 and Andrea Imhof '11.
"We are a young team and are getting there," Short said. "The team should keep getting better next year and hopefully strong recruits will add to the team's success."
Both teams have concluded the fall season and will take a break from official training until the spring track and field season.