The men’s cross-country team placed 15th and the sole representative of the women’s team, co-captain Ellen Davis ’07, finished ninth at the NCAA Division III Championship meet in West Chester, Ohio on Nov. 18.
In her final college cross-country race, Davis covered a muddy 6,000-meter course in 23:17, placing ninth out of 279 of the nation’s best Division III runners and earning All-America honors for the second year in a row.
“Ellen’s so talented,” said Sean Watson ’08. “She’s really an inspiration. I hope that next year I can get anywhere close to where she is now.”
Davis, described by several of her teammates as a hard worker as well as a great natural athlete, was not completely satisfied with her performance.
“Ellen’s race really shows how much of a runner she is,” Watson said. “She can run what she thought to be a bad race and get ninth in the entire nation.”
Watson led the men’s team, which finished 15th of 32 teams, by finishing 67th in the muddy 8,000-meter race with a time of 28:11. He was closely followed by the remainder of Wesleyan’s scoring five, all of whom finished in under 29 minutes in a true team effort. Anda Greeney ’07 finished 90th (28:26), tri-captain Jon King ’07 placed 108th (28:36), Mike Brady ’07 came in 130th (28:50), and Matt Shea ’08 was the 150th finisher (28:59) in a field of 279.
“The conditions really separated the boys from the men,” King said of the extremely muddy conditions, brought about by heavy rainfall. “We were beaten by teams like Bowdoin and Trinity earlier in the year, but this race was a testament to our program. To do well on a muddy course involves grunt work more than speed. If you put in the miles, you’re gonna get the results.”
Williams, Bowdoin, and Trinity all placed ahead of Wesleyan at the previous weekend’s New England Regional meet, but at Nationals, the Cardinals proved that they are the second best team in New England, finishing ahead of Trinity (31st) and Bowdoin (17th), but behind Williams (seventh).
“The course was pretty ridiculous, but it was good to end the year on a good note,” Watson said. “It was great to beat Bowdoin and Trinity, although it’s a little bittersweet because it’s gonna be rough losing all these seniors. I can’t imagine going without the guys I’ve run with all these years.”
The team will lose eight seniors to graduation, including three of the scoring five and five of the varsity seven. Tri-captain Alex Battaglino ’07 (172nd, 29:14) and Ed Kenney ’07 (235th, 30:02) will graduate along with Greeney, King, Brady, Nate Huddell, Matt Franco, and tri-captain Nick Holowka. The 2007 season will feature 14 returning members of the team. For now, several members of the cross-country team are preparing for the indoor track season.
“I’m looking forward to track,” Watson said. “And I’m looking forward to seeing how the freshmen step it up and we get to Nationals next year. I have a lot of confidence in the guys on the team. You can never count out WesXC.”
King had kind words for one of next year’s team leaders.
“The obvious standout was Sean Watson,” he said. “He’s gonna absolutely blow away the competition next year. He’s really a team leader, and he’s gonna bring the whole team together. I’d love to go see them at Nationals next year.”
Despite finishing 15th nationally among Division III teams, this year’s version of the men’s cross-country team featured no clear superstars. The same cannot be said for the women’s team. Davis, the Division III New England Champion and the only member of the women’s team to qualify for Nationals, was recently honored as the New England Division III Women’s Runner of the Year.
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