The Wesleyan men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the annual Little Three meet, hosted by Williams on Saturday, Oct. 15. This year, the men’s team placed second behind the Ephs for the second straight season. Both Williams’ men’s and women’s teams took first place.

The men’s team’s scoreboard in the three-way affair showed Williams with 19, Wesleyan at 57 and Amherst with 62. The key to the men’s success was the standout second-place finish of co-captain Skyler Cummins ’13, who covered the 8k course in 26:25.4, just five seconds behind the winning time of Williams’ Josephat Koima.

Co-captain Bryan Marsh ’13, an NCAA cross country qualifier last season, made his return after being injured.

Marsh came in at 26:50.4, just three seconds behind Williams’ number five runner. Completing the Cardinals’ scoring five were Austin Cotant ’13 (27:13.9), Austin Barvin ’15 (27:41.3), and Sam Roth ’13 (27:51.9). They finished 19th, 24th, and 29th overall in the field.

“The Open New Englands [meet] last week was a pretty bad showing for us,” said Cummins. “The team as a whole was pretty unhappy with our performance, and we wanted to prove that it was a fluke. Little Threes was a good place for us to do that, and I think we did what we came to do.”

Cummins said that the team was excited to compete.

“The team is still not at 100 percent, so it’s exciting for us to be able to race well while still knowing we’ve got room for improvement,” he said. “We’re excited to show up at NESCACs and New Englands and make a real statement.”

The Cardinal ladies were led by sophomore Libby Lazare for the third week in a row. She finished 16th out of 76, covering the hilly 5k course in 20:00. Williams’ Chiara Del Piccolo captured the title, finishing in 18:25. Julia Mark ’13 finished 19th overall with a respectable time of 20:07.8. Rounding out the top five for the women were Tess Crain ’12 (20:26), Hannah Zimmerman ’13 (20:36), and Nellie Triedman ’13 (20:37).

“There are several women on the team who can run similar times, so we’re working on racing in a group and breaking up other team’s packs,” Mark said. “I feel confident that if we continue training hard and bringing focus every day, we will surprise a lot of our rivals this fall.”

Up next for the team is the annual NESCAC meet at Amherst on Saturday, Oct. 29.

About Drew Hudson

Drew Hudson grew up in the heart of basketball country, Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a huge basketball and football fan, but also loves golf, tennis, and the occasional baseball or hockey game. Drew also loves poetry, Cocoa Puffs, walks on the beach, rap music, and reading a good book in his Snuggie. His sports idols are Tyler Hansbrough, Steve Smith, Sean May, Baron Davis, and Julius Peppers. Drew one day hopes to write for the sports section of a major newspaper or sports network.