Cross country competes at ECACs

On Saturday, the Panthers raced at cross country ECACs in Bristol, R.I., and both teams turned in yet another outstanding weekend. The men’s team took second overall, and the women’s team won the race with an incredible, record-low 21 points. The meet showcased the Panthers’ depth of talent. The top five athletes on the men’s and women’s teams did not run this weekend in order to rest for the upcoming NCAA meets, and the Panthers still had quite a showing.

The women’s team had six runners finish in the top 8. To provide some perspective on how incredible a score 21 is, recall that the top score possible is 15, the sum of the points from the top five runners, assigned by finish. The score of 21 points was leaps and bounds ahead of Williams (72) and Amherst (73).

“Considering the number of girls in the race, it’s amazing how close they came to getting a perfect score,” said Taylor Sundali ’12. “They are an insanely talented team.” The Panthers were led by Amanda Lee ’11, who finished second with a time of 22:23. Middlebury women came flying across the finish line in quick succession with Lee ’11 followed closely by Margo Cramer ’12 with a time of 22:28, Hannah Meier ’11 two seconds behind Cramer ’12 with a 22:30, followed by a fifth place finish from Chelsea Ward-Waller’ 12 with a 22:34. Emily Attwood ’14 rounded out the top five, taking seventh at 22:54.

The men’s cross country team had a record-breaking weekend of their own. The men were edged out of first by Williams, but were far ahead of several other NESCAC teams, including Tufts, Bates, Amherst and Colby.

“The men ran a very strong race, as our top five men ran faster times than our top runner from 2008 on the same course, which shows how much our men’s team has improved in two years,” reported Aldrich. The top five men were led by Sundali in ninth with a time of 26:31. Sundali was followed by Sam Miller ’12 in 21st (26:55), Donovan Dickson ’11 in 28th (27:07) and Anthony Lee ’13 in 29th, just a second behind Dickson (27:08). Patrick Hebble ’12 rounded out the top five in 36th place (27:14).

Up next for the Middlebury cross country teams is the NCAA regionals at Williams on Saturday. Coach Aldrich is confident in his teams’ abilities to do well in the upcoming competition.

“Both teams should have tremendous momentum after the last two weekends of racing heading in to the NCAA Regional this weekend,” said Aldrich. The teams have both had tremendous successes this season and their stand-out talent and depth should result in a great end to the year.