The men's and women's cross country teams both finished second in the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., this weekend. A third place individual finish from Will Geoghegan '14 and a second consecutive individual win by Abbey D'Agostino '14 propelled the teams to their best-ever finishes in the event.
Coming off of second and third-place finishes in the Dartmouth Invitational in their last meet, the Big Green men and women have enjoyed a strong start to the season.
This weekend's invitational involved many nationally ranked teams for both the men and women. On the men's side, Indiana University, the only team to beat out the Big Green, came in entered the meet ranked 15th in the nation. The men's side also beat out nationally-ranked Georgetown University and Iowa State University. The Hoosiers were the only team to score under 100 points, finishing with 89, 17 more than Dartmouth's 106.
The women's team beat nationally ranked teams Villanova University, Pennsylvania State University, West Virginia University and Cornell University. Georgetown, a perennial contender, was the only team to beat the Big Green. The Hoyas finished with 112 points while the Dartmouth women finished with 125 points.
It was an uncharacteristically hot day for a cross-country invitational. The temperatures climbed well over 80 degrees, hot enough to cancel the high school races. Men's head coach Barry Harwick said there were five ambulances waiting at the finish line just in case.
The heat certainly did not affect Geoghegan's performance. The captain, who finished first at the Dartmouth Invitational on Sept. 14, improved upon his fifth-place finish at this event last year. John Bleday '14 placed seventh, putting two Big Green runners in the top 10.
All five scoring runners finished within the top 50 individually, with Curtis King '16 the final scorer crossing the line in 43rd.
"It was a solid team effort," Geoghegan said. "Our fourth man matched up awesome with Georgetown's fourth man."
The Hoyas are expected to contend for the NCAA championship.
Harwick said the Big Green can contend for the NCAA championsips after this weekend, but its regional ranking could hinder the effort.
"After this weekend," Harwick said, "we might be nationally ranked, but maybe only fifth in our region."
The team handily beat all of the other Ivy League schools.
"[This was] the best result we've had at any race I've been to in my four years at Dartmouth," women's head coach Mark Coogan said.
All five runners finished in the top 50, with two top-10 finishes. D'Agostino cruised to a 24-second victory in the race with a time of 19:58. Dana Giordano '16 finished in ninth in 20:38. Hannah Rowe '14, the team's last scoring member, ran a 21:26 and finished 50th overall.
The men and women look to keep the momentum going into the New England Championships in Boston next weekend before traveling to Madison, Wis., for the Wisconsin Invitational on Oct. 19.
