Once again Ellen Davis ’07 was the highlight of an otherwise unremarkable race for the Wesleyan women’s cross country team this past Saturday. Davis cleared the 5K course in 18:18, placing first at the Little Three competition at Amherst College.
The team as a whole was less successful. Wesleyan’s final score of 70 put the team far behind both Amherst (31) and Williams (34). Davis was the only Wesleyan runner to finish in the top 15. Lucia Pier ’08 was the 16th runner with a time of 20:02, followed by Julia Stone ’09 (20:16), Liz Wheatley ’09 (21:25) and Hannah Hastings ’08 (21:35).
“There were a lot of factors, both physical and mental, that contributed to the outcome,” said Megan Kretz ’07. “We’re having trouble with injuries, the second mile was rough, and the footing was wet and muddy.”
One of the problems facing the team is lack of experienced runners. Whereas Amherst has over 20 runners on their roster, and Williams has almost 40, Wesleyan has 12 runners, including four freshmen.
“As a team, we didn’t do what we could do,” Davis said. “We were racing two of the best teams in the country, we have a young team that’s not used to that kind of competition, and it can be intimidating.”
Coach John Crooke also cited inexperience as the reason for Saturday’s disappointing outcome.
“[The younger players] have yet to learn to race at the collegiate level,” he said.
Crooke is, however, emphatic that bringing the less experienced runners up to collegiate level is a matter of time and practice, and the mediocre turnout of the last few races are “not a lack of effort by any means.”
Wesleyan will have another chance to run with their Little Three rivals next week at the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Connecticut College. The team’s performance at the NESCACs will be an indicator for how well they can expect to run at the New England Regionals on Nov. 11.
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