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| The men's cross
country team encountered a muddy course at the Division III NCAA National
Championships Nov. 18, however finished in the top half. (Photos by Steve
Maheu) |
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| Posted 12.04.06 |
Men's Cross Country Competes at Nationals for Second Straight Year
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The Wesleyan Men’s Cross Country team overcame
an uneven season of performances to finish in the top half of the field at
the Division III NCAA National Championships in Ohio on Nov 18.
“We started off running instead of racing,” Men’s Head Coach John Crooke
says about the early part of the season. “It’s quite simply competing. Cross
country is not about time, it’s about place. When you race, you are
competing, not running.”
 The
team had three mediocre efforts in its first three tests of the season,
dipping from 10th to 14th in the New England Open, coming up short of both
Williams and Amherst in the Little Three meet and placing a disappointing
fifth of 11 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
meet.
“I would say we had a roller-coaster season,” Matt Shea ’08 says. “I feel
like we lost some of our morale in the middle of the season.”
Some, but not all. A little more than two weeks after their disappointing
showing at the NESCAC meet, the men placed 4th out of 45 teams at the New
England Division III Regional Championships in Springfield, Mass. Out of 309
total finishers, the Wesleyan scoring five finished: 17th Alex Battaglino
’07; 24th Anda Greeney ’07; 34th Sean Watson ’08; 43rd Jon King ’07; and
47th Mike Brady ‘07.
“We really put our best team race together when it counted at regionals with
a 34-second spread from one to five and less than a minute from one to
seven,” says Brady.
The top two teams at the event, Williams and Bowdoin, received automatic
bids to the NCAA National Championship meet. Wesleyan’s outstanding
performance earned the team an at-large bid to the 32-team field. It was the
school’s second-ever invite to the nationals, the first coming last year.
“I was exceptionally proud of how we never gave up and we were able to come
together as a team and have great races at both regionals and nationals,”
says Shea.
Nationals were hosted by Wilmington College in Ohio and held at the Voice of
America Park in West Chester on Nov. 18th. Wesleyan athletics director John
Biddiscombe, who attended the event, described them as “some of the worst
conditions for a sporting event I have ever seen.” Days of torrential rain
had left the ground saturated and muddy with standing water inches deep
throughout the course.
“Course conditions were nuts,” says Anda Greeney. “Cross country is about
running in all types of weather, but this being Nationals, you’d think they
would choose a place that wasn’t sitting at or under the water table.”
Overall, the Cardinal finished 15th - ahead of Bowdoin (17th) and Trinity
(31st); Williams (7th) was the only New England school to finish higher than
Wesleyan. Watson posted the team’s best individual performance, crossing the
finish line 67th out of 279 runners.
“Running at Nationals is an exciting experience,” Brady says. “The dinner,
the free stuff, flying out to Ohio, the NCAA symbol painted on the grass
near the starting area. It’s quite an atmosphere.”
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By Brian Katten, sports information director |
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