The Wesleyan cross-country teams continued their stellar starts at Colby on Saturday, as the men took first place for the second week in a row, and the women finished in second place.
Owen Kiely ’06 paced the Cardinals once again, finishing in first place for the second week in a row by running the 8,000-meter course in 26: 41. Captain Wes Fuhrman ’05 came in nine seconds behind Kiely in his long-awaited return to the cross-country course, good for second place.
“On a personal level, it was nice to just get out there and race after missing last season,’ Fuhrman said. ”Up front, it wasn’t much of a race as Owie [Kiely] and I didn’t hear so much as peep from Bowdoin or Colby’s top guys.“
Jon King ’07 came up big for the Cards, finishing in fifth place (27:38), and Jeremey ”Solley“ Solomon ’05 continued his strong return to the Derrty Birds after prolonged injuries, placing sixth in 27:57 . Anda Greeney ’07 rounded out Wesleyan’s scoring five, as he finished in 12 place in 28:13. These five strong performances propelled the Red and Black to a first place finish, as they beat the other two teams at the meet, Bowdoin and Colby.
”It ended up being a closer race than we expected,“ Fuhrman said. ”Solley came up huge for us by passing Bowdoin’s three and four runners in the last 300 meters. He ran a hell of a race and he’s just starting to get into shape. Jon King turned in another great performance as he battled with Bowdoin’s top guys the whole way. Despite coming home with the win, this weekend was a wakeup call for the Derrty Birds. We need to step it up if we’re going to accomplish all that we expect to this season. But I’m not worried. We’ve got plenty of firepower on this crew, and once we all start clicking we’ll be a force to reckon with.“
The men’s record already proves that they are a force to be reckoned with, as it now stands at a lofty 29-0.
The women also turned in strong performances at Colby, but finished second to the nationally ranked (22) home team. They were paced by their captain, Courtney Quirin ’05, who finished in first place, completing the 5,000-meter course in 19:01, and Ellen Davis ’07 who finished in second (19:19). Delia Springstubb ’08 continued her strong collegiate racing career start, placing ninth for the Cardinals (20:20).
”Ellen and Courtney had an amazing one-two finish,“ Springstubb said. ”I wish I could have caught a few Colby runners at the end, making our pack a little tighter, but the seemingly endless uphill during the second mile took a lot out of me. The course has every imaginable surface from cement to swamp, which makes it challenging. It’s sort of an epic course. We’ll be back there later in the season in tougher shape.“
Erin Smith ’06 and Megan Wise ’05 rounded out the scoring five for Wesleyan by finishing 14 (21:17) and 16 (21:19) respectively, helping the team to a second place finish in their second meet of the year, and putting its record at 20-3.
The Derrty Birds will have a weekend to rest, and then they will head to Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. for the New England Championship on Friday, Oct. 8.
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