There was much to be sentimental about for the cross country team come Regionals, and for some, the Nationals. After four years of hard work and self-sacrifice, the moment had arrived for the senior class to begin their final races. As it so happened, Wesleyan representation in the events was dominated by its seniors.
“Being on the starting line at Regionals, as our group of seven seniors, was such a charged, poignant moment,” said Chloe Lalonde ’13.
And so it was for the men as well, with four of five scoring finishers in Regionals part of the class of 2013. Another factor added even more weight to the occasion, namely that the best performers in Regionals would qualify for the Nationals, a fantastic addition to any college runner’s resume, and a real testament to hir talent and determination.
“It was extremely relieving to finally move on to Nationals,” said Skyler Cummins ’13. “I’ve spent the last four years of my life trying to qualify for this race.”
The other male Wesleyan qualifier was All-American Bryan Marsh ’13, who was looking to build on his 35th place finish last year. Marsh finished seventh out of 351 entrants at Regionals to qualify, while Cummins took tenth. And so the stage was set for the men.
As for the women, Julia Mark ’13 was the sole qualifier for Nationals, finishing an outstanding 16th place in a field of 367 runners. Yet in many ways, the real story of the day was that all seven seniors lined up at the start line.
“The seven of us have suffered broken feet, broken femurs, torn ACLs, and worse. We set our team goal high and did not perform as well as we wanted, but it was incredible to end our collegiate cross country careers together”, said Hannah Zimmerman ’13.
At Nationals, the spotlight would turn to the aforementioned three Wesleyan qualifiers—Mark, Marsh, and Cummins. As will always be the case with such an important defining race, some athletes will put in the performance of a lifetime, while others will not quite live up to expectations; Wesleyan’s representatives were no exception.
Despite finishing comfortably in the top half of the 276 qualifying runners (103rd), Cummins described his performance as a “huge letdown,” adding that “my goal was to finish in the top 20, and I fell far short of that.” As for Mark and Marsh, the day seemingly panned out much closer to their aspirations. Marsh finished 16th overall, a mere 24 seconds off the winning pace, to earn All-American honors for a second year running. Mark finished 130th in a field of 277 in her first appearance at Nationals.