The Wesleyan Cross Country teams turned in solid performances Saturday in the New England Division III Regional Championships at Bates, but were unable to advance to the Nationals.

The the women finished in seventh out of the thirty-five competing teams, and the men finished in tenth place out of the thirty-eight teams in New England. Senior captain Bryan Bissell ’04, Courtney Quirin ’05 and Ellen Davis ’07 received all-New England honors and trips as individuals to the NCAA Division III Championship in Hanover, Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 22.

Running his final cross country course with the team, Bissell finished in tenth place (26:19) out of 267 total finishers to pace the Cardinals. Owen Kiely ’06 received all-New England honors with a 23rd place finish in 26:41 at the 8,000-meter course.

“Overall, it was a bittersweet ending to the season. We had high hopes all year for a top five finish, but being tenth in New England is nothing to lose sleep over. The weather was cold and windy . . . and I took that as a sign to go for the jugular,” Bissell said. “Wes Fuhrman [’05] reminded me of the glory and truth inherent to the death of the physical world as seen through a guts race, and I gradually threw muscle to the trees with each passing stride until the last mile and a half when I was thumbing my nose at the wind that intimidated so many and, characteristically, I threw down to the point of running on bone.”

Mike Brady ’07 stepped up and finished the course in 27:59 (73rd). Brady was followed closely by Anda Greeney ’07 (75th, 28:01) and Jon King ’07 (100th, 28:24).

“It’s impossible to describe the atmosphere of Regionals 2003. The fan support was so amazing from alums, teammates and parents that we just got inspired. The freezing weather just makes your legs go numb and to use the words of our captain we ‘we ran on bone.’ What a leader, what an awesome finish to his cross country career, and hopefully next year we can improve and go to Nationals as a team,” Brady said.

“The ground was frozen most of the way, and there was plenty of ice to be found. There were a few places with nice, icy cold water. The high winds made it feel even colder so I was that much more hardcore when I took off my shirt for the cool down at the end of the race,” Greeney said, describing the chill in the air.

The men’s final overall team record on the year stands at 99-46.

The women were once again paced by Quirin, the fourteenth runner out of 252 runners to cross the finish line in the 6,000-meter course (22:46). Davis, who will be making the trip to Indiana this weekend with Quirin and Bissell, came in at number 28 (23:16). Brittany Allen ’04 (49th, 23:53), Erin Smith ’06 (60th, 24:09) and Kate McNamara ’04 (24:21) completed the scoring five for the Cardinals. It was the final race for senior captains Allen and McNamara.

“We were disappointed that we did not qualify [for Nationals] as a team because we definitely had a chance to, but it was a tough day to run, and our performance doesn’t reflect the team’s abilities. It was really really cold which made it a tough run but I hope that next week will be a lot better and I’ll run a lot better then,” Quirin said, who said she is looking forward to next weekend. The women finished their season with an overall record of 94-25.

Bissell’s attitude toward next weekend summed up the confidence in each of the three runners.

“As for nationals, I’m not afraid of the rest of the country,” Bissell said. “They are the British HMS Serapis to my American Bon Homme Richard, the Richard Pearson to my John Paul Jones, and little do they know that I have not yet begun to fight.”