High hopes for the women’s cross-country team in NESCAC Championships disappeared over the weekend, just like last week’s beautiful weather. The women’s team finished eighth out of 11 teams at the race on Saturday, all the while battling horizontal rain and 25 mph winds.
“It didn’t go as well as we wanted it to,” said Hannah Hastings ’08. “We didn’t run as well as we could have.”
Hastings echoes a common sentiment across the team, concerning both the NESCACs in particular and the season in general so far.
“It pretty much went the way it’s gone all season,” said Head Coach John Crooke. “The effort was there, but we’re not up to par with the other teams.”
Ellen Davis ’07 led the team as usual, finishing third with a time of 23:08 for the 6k course. Coach Crooke cited the second Wesleyan finisher, Lucia Pier ’08, as having a competitive race. She placed 28th with a time of 24:34. Pier was followed by Julia Stone ’09 (25:49), Hastings (26:36), and Liz Wheatley ’09 (26:42).
Wesleyan finished with a score of 219. Little Three rival Amherst won the meet with a score of 64, while Williams placed third with 70.
“I don’t think people understand how competitive this conference is,” Crooke said. “If you’re not really talented, it’s going to be a long race.”
The team is particularly upset with its showing this past weekend, with the outcome just the newest disappointment in a long string of frustrating meets.
“The fact that we haven’t had any great really great races yet, and that we were hoping to do that on Saturday but fell short, is a big letdown,” Hastings said.
In addition to bad weather, the team was plagued by the loss of two of its top six runners, who are out due to injury.
The varsity team will run again on Nov. 11 at the New England Regionals in Springfield, Mass., while the JV squad finished its season with the NESCACs.
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