On Saturday, Nov. 2, the cross country teams traveled to Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Conn., to run in the NESCAC Championships hosted by Connecticut College. The women’s team gained NESCAC supremacy for the first time since 2010, winning the meet by a mere 29 points while the men put in a strong performance to take second place with 61 points, only nine points behind Williams.
Erzsie Nagy ’17 led the women’s team, finishing second behind All-American Kaleigh Kenny of Williams. Nagy completed the six-kilometer race in 21 minutes and 28 seconds, just eight seconds behind Kenny. Following Nagy was Alison Maxwell ’15, who captured a third place finish.
Beyond the top two finishers, the Panthers’ signature “blob” placed their top seven runners in the top 12. The “blob” was comprised of Emily Singer ’14, Sarah Guth ’15, Katie Rominger ’14, Katherine Tercek ’16, and Summer Spillane ’15, finishing in7th,8th,9th, 11th, and12th, respectively.
Coach Nicole Wilkerson was pleased with the way her team executed.
“The plan was to race a ‘smart’ first mile, although we knew it would be fast since the course was flat. They have really relied heavily on working together and in a tight pack and that was the plan for the race. They are stronger as a unit, when they share the work and communicate with each other. They raced exactly as it was planned. We are very strong and incredibly deep,” she said.
Nagy credited her teammates, both in the race and spectators, for helping through the race.
“It was definitely the most nervous I have been for a meet … [but I] am just running as fast as I can for my team,” she said.
The men’s team was led by Greg Krathwohl ’14 who finishedfourth, breaking the 25 minute barrier for the eight-kilometer distance for the second time in the season. Ten seconds behind Krathwohl was Nate Sans ’14 as the seventh finisher in the race. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Kevin Wood ’15 finished11th and13th, both gathering Second Team All-NESCAC honors. Sebastian Matt ’16 rounded out the scoring for the Panthers, finishing27th while Sam Craft ’14 and Luke Carpinello ’16 were the sixth and seventh runners for Middlebury.
“I feel pretty good with the way the team performed,” Sans said. “It would have been nice to win, but it was a solid second place and now we’ll be going into the regional meet hungry. I am confident that we will run the rest of races well and produce good results.”
Similar to the women’s team, the men’s team executed its strategy well. Krathwohl, Sans, Schaaf and Wood ran at the front of the pack for the entirety of the race and worked well together while the five through nine runners ran together and moved up in the field towards the end of the race.
Sans said that the performance this past Saturday will prepare the team well for the upcoming championship season.
“The course was flat and fast and similar to the courses that we’ve run at regionals and nationals, so it was good practice for those kinds of meets,” Sans said. “The course facilitated running ‘Midwest Cross Country’ where the pace is fast from the beginning as opposed to traditional ‘Northeastern Cross Country’ where hills and variations in terrain produce more tactical races.”
The Panthers travel to Bristol, R.I. next Saturday, Nov. 9 to run in the ECAC championships and the next weekend run in Gorham, ME on Saturday, Nov. 16 to compete in the NCAA Northeast Regional.
Wilkerson is excited for both teams’ prospects, saying that she is currently coaching “among one of the best women’s team in history and the best men’s team, compared to teams in the past.”
Cross Country Cruises in NESCAC Title Races
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