Cross Country owns Green Mountain State Women sweep first 16 places at State meet while men win with just 23 points

Author: Dan Berkman

The men and women's cross country teams can both call themselves state champions. In front of a home crowd cheering them on, both teams used the home course to their advantage to dominate the rest of the field. Overall, it was a great day to be a Panther.

The Middlebury women literally swept the competition with the lowest score possible of 15 points. As in golf, the lowest team score wins a cross country race with points coming from the place of the top five finishers. In fact, 16 Middlebury runners crossed the finish line before anyone else from another college.

The race for first place with a time of 19:28 went to Makely Lyon '07 with juniors Andrea Giddings and Evelyn Dong just a second behind. Robyn Anderson '09 and Kelsey Rinehart '06 both broke the 20 minute mark for the 5k race with times of 19:45 and 19:50 to round out the scoring.

Captain Claire Anderson '06 was pleased with the team's first place finish and also noted the improved times. "A lot of people took a lot of time off from the Panther Invite (two weeks ago) and everyone was pleased with their races," she said.

It is often hard to compare personal times in cross country because runners are racing on different courses each week, but running twice on the same course can be a good gauge of improvement. The women's team looks forward to carry its momentum into the bigger races to come in the next few weeks.

The men also dominated with a low score of 23 and placed five runners in the top 10. Jimmy Butcher '08 won the 8k race with a blistering time of 26:58. Coming off not racing last week, Nolan Sandygren '06 placed third overall with a time of 27:10. Will McDonough '07 came in fourth overall at 27:32. First-year Pete Murphy had a stellar race coming in at 27:50 and seventh overall, while Jack Wambach '09 rounded out the top five on the team and eighth overall with a time of 28:10.

Captain Baker Lyon '06 was optimistic about the rest of the season, commenting, "We have a very young and strong team right now which will only improve when our injured upperclassmen return. This race was an excellent tune up for the challenge that lies for next week in Boston."

Both teams look to take their achievements out of the state next week when they travel to Boston's Franklin Park for Open New England's. This meet is "open" to colleges from all divisions, so Middlebury will face much tougher competition from not only Division I schools, but also from NESCAC rivals. With faster competition and a flatter course, both the men and women's teams hope to put up some speedy times. There is no doubt that both squads have special talent this year and many strong leaders. The sky is the limit for this team as it moves ever closer to the big time meets that wrap up the season.