This past weekend the men and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Grafton, Massachusetts for a successful season opening race, the Jumbo Invite. Both teams faced a competitive field with seven teams entered in the men’s race and nine in the women’s race including NESCAC rivals Amherst, Bates, Connecticut College and Tufts.
As the first competition of the season, Saturday’s race was both a status check and a first chance for the Cardinal harriers to establish themselves amongst New England’s elite. Clear skies and the hard packed trails of the Grafton Farm Course made for good racing conditions and both teams looked to take advantage prior to the race.
“We really couldn’t have asked for a better day to get our season under way,” said Matt Franco ’07. “It was as if fall had been waiting for us to lace up our spikes and toe the line.”
Coach John Crooke had instructed both teams to pack up and run the race in groups to ensure even running and hopefully strong scoring.
The women’s 6K race went off first and the lady Cardinals quickly found their groups and began clipping away at the paces set by Coach Crooke. Ellen Davis ’06 and Co-captain Erin Smith ’06 led the way with Davis eventually crossing the line in 3rd place with a time 22:47 and Smith following close behind in 9th with a time of 23:06.
“Ellen looked comfortable throughout the race,” said Sean Watson ’08. “She’s definitely going to bring the pain on the top runners of the region later this season.”
Delia Sprinstubb ’08, Lucia Pier ’08, and Anna Schindler ’09 rounded out the scoring five with Brittany Morse ’08 and Sarah Bernier ’08 finishing on the varsity seven.
Coming off a season in which they qualified for nationals the women’s team knew they would have to count on some new talent to get back to the NCAAs. Competing in the strongest region in the country doesn’t make that task any easier, but after this weekend the lady Cards are optimistic of their chances. First year runners Pier and Schindler gave them particular reason for hope as they both turned in impressive times for their first 6k race.
“Once Lucia gets herself a pair of racing spikes she’ll be toasting the girls she ran with this weekend,” said Fred Zenker ’09.
On the men’s side, the Cardinals were looking to take down perennial region powerhouse Tufts. Pre-season DIII national rankings had Tufts at number 9 and the fun loving men of WESXC at number 18, but the Cardinal men were determined to make a statement on the Jumbo’s home course. Using the same pack tactics as the women, the Wesleyan men established themselves early in the 8k race with their front pack falling right behind the race leaders. The front pack consisting of co-captains Wes Fuhrman Gr and Owen Kiely ’06, Alex Battaglino ’07, Anda Greeney ’07, and Jon King ’07 put on a display of WESXC dominance over the first three miles as all five of them remained ahead of Tuft’s top runner. At the three mile mark the pack faltered and split with King, Fuhrman, and Kiely breaking away for the final miles. Coach Crooke reported after the race that even with the split pack the WESXC men were ahead of Tufts with a mile to go.
Unfortunately the Jumbos were able to slip ahead in the final mile to edge the Cardinals out of first place. Kiely crossed the line first for Wesleyan at 26:03, followed closely by Fuhrman at 26:05, and King at 26:10. Greeney and Battaglino closed out the scoring five in times of 26:42 and 27:00 respectively. Greeney and King’s times were both large personal record (PR), an encouraging factor considering it was their first race of the season and the Tufts course isn’t known for its fast times.
“With a few more races under out belt our pack is going to be air tight,” Kiely said. “King ran like a stud. He’s going to take the region by storm this year.”
The varsity team was rounded out with two great performances from Nate Huddell ’07 and Sean Watson ’08. This dynamite duo came in with times of 27:18 and 27:30 respectively. Huddell’s effort was one of the highlights of the day as he also turned in a huge PR and broke into Wesleyan’s varsity team for the first time.
When the dust had settled the WESXC men had fallen a mere 19 points shy of Tufts and had to settle for second place.
“As much as I wanted to beat Tufts I’m glad it ended the way it did,” Fuhrman said. “A couple more weeks of hard work and racing and our pack will be ready tear through Tufts like a MoCon meal through a prefrosh and coming away with the silver gives us some extra to fuel to keep us hungry for the weeks to come.”
Leave a Reply