This past Saturday at Harkness State Park in Connecticut, the men’s and women’s cross country teams faced tough competition at the 2013 NESCAC Championship. The flatness and quickness of the course, which runs around the grounds of the Harkness mansion, affected both teams.
Men
The men placed fourth despite competing against six of the top ten nationally-ranked teams.
“It was a fast course that we thought would play to our advantage, but it kind of didn’t work out that way,” said captain Coby Horowitz ‘14.
Throughout the better part of the race, Bowdoin runners kept pace with their competitors from Middlebury, Bates and Tufts. At the third mile, Bowdoin runners started to fall behind.
“The race went out very fast, and some days that works well for us—but I don’t think the fast pace worked out well for us [in this race],” said Head Coach Peter Slovenski.
In the final two miles of the race, Middlebury and Tufts passed Bowdoin, putting them in second and third place respectively, while Bowdoin finished fourth—three places ahead of No. 25 Colby.
Horowitz ’14, Bowdoin’s number one runner, stayed close throughout the race with Mike Leduc of Connecticut College, the winner, and runner-up Colin Cotton of Williams. On mile three Horowitz outsprinted Chris Lee of Williams and Gregory Krathwohl of Middlebury to take third place. Horowitz finished with a time of 24:51.4. He and the other top four runners all broke the previous course record.
“I really wanted to defend my title obviously, but third isn’t bad against those guys,” said Horowitz, who won the meet last year. “It was [Mike Leduc’s] first time ever winning the individual title. He had the home course advantage as well.”
Horowitz also achieved his fourth All-NESCAC honor for men’s cross-country following his race.
According to Slovenski, Avery Wentworth ’15 stood out amongst Bowdoin’s runners.
“Avery had his best time ever, and scored for us by beating the No. 5 runner from 7 other colleges. In close races, the No. 6 runner is very important for a cross country team. It [gained] important points for the team,” Slovenski said.
Women
The women’s team was also successful, taking ninth place against NESCAC competition, which fields the fastest women in Division III cross-country, including Middlebury, Williams and Tufts, which ranked second, third and eighth, respectively. The women also competed against Bates, Colby and Hamilton, teams ranked in the top 30 of the NCAA cross-country poll, giving the conference six nationally ranked teams.
Lucy Skinner ’16 ultimately led the way, finishing in 23rd place, achieving a 5:40 time on her first mile.
Skinner was surprised by the heat and quickness of the competition.
“Coach Slovenski and I didn’t anticipate how fast the field would be. He wanted me to start in a certain position, and a certain mile time, but I ended up having a way faster first-mile time, so that threw me off. It was also very [unexpectedly] hot,” Skinner said.
Despite this, Slovenski thought Skinner performed at a very high level.
“Lucy showed a lot of composure to stay with that group of runners. She never wavered, and finished strong,” Slovenski said.
Bowdoin also got a boost from their number three, four and five runners. Caroline Corban ’17 and Ally Fulton ’16 worked with Brenna Fischer ’15 to get a scoring position after the first mile. The three of them moved up to gain valuable points for the team.
Next up for both teams is the NCAA regional championship, where they have high expectations.
“For the women, we are trying to finish in the top 10. We are seeded 14th out of the 50 teams in the region. For the men, our goal is to be one of the top five teams that goes to nationals,” said Slovenski.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be competing in their NCAA regional championship at the University of Southern Maine on November 16.