XC Runners Gear Up for NESCACs on Home Course

This Saturday, Nov. 1, the NESCAC cross county championship returns to Middlebury for the first time since 2003. Unlike other sports, cross country does not tabulate regular-season records or use a tournament to determine the NESCAC champion; the title is instead awarded based on this one meet featuring the eleven member institutions.

Middlebury’s course presents a number of challenges for the runners, primarily its variety of hills. Many teams will also be seeing the course for the first time this weekend — Colby and Hamilton are the only teams besides Middlebury with runners who have raced the course after competing in this year’s edition of the Aldrich Invitational. Saturday’s forecast also calls for a true Vermont autumn day with near freezing temperatures, rain and snow possible.

As has been written in this space, the Middlebury teams have had successful seasons and are sure to contend for NESCAC team titles.

The men won their one and only championship four years ago at Hamilton. As defending champions, the women would tie Williams for most titles in the history of the conference with a victory. Michael Schmidt ’12 was the school’s most recent individual champion on either team, taking home the title in 2011 at Amherst. The women, on the other hand, have not had an individual victory since Jessica Johnston ’01 took the crown in 2000.

On the men’s side, the team competition is wide open. Williams, Colby and Middlebury are all ranked in the top 10 nationally and Amherst is not far behind at 16. This year, Colby won the Purple Valley Classic in September by eight points over Williams, who then came back with a strong performance a week later at the Paul Short Invitational against strong Division-I competition. Middlebury, who struggled at Purple Valley, came on in mid-October as the top Division-III team at the NEICAAA Championships and the top team overall at the Albany Invitational.

The race for the individual title promises to be as intriguing as the team competition. Colby sophomore David Chelimo, the winner of Purple Valley, has the ability to run away from the field, but he has not raced since Sept. 27. Williams senior Colin Cotton finished three seconds behind Chelimo at Purple Valley and ran 24:10 at Paul Short, the fastest eight kilometers clocked by a NESCAC runner this year. Teammate Bijan Mazaheri was 3rd at Purple Valley and ran 24:29 at Paul Short, giving Williams a formidable duo up front.

From Middlebury, Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 is fresh off a blazing 24:46 for seventh at NEICAAA Championships in Boston, a performance that garnered him national Runner of the Week honors. Teammate Kevin Wood ’15 has also run well this year and will be in the front group. Other contenders include Amherst freshman Mohamed Hussein and Colby senior Peter Hale.

For the women, the team battle is likely to fall to either Middlebury or Williams. The Panthers and Ephs have either won or tied each other for the title in 23 of the 31 years the meet has been run, and this year promises to be no different.

Middlebury is ranked third nationally after taking a second-place finish at NEICAAA Championships and a victory at Albany. Williams is currently ranked seventh in the nation and recently won the Little Three Championships. Middlebury got the best of Williams last year with 29 points to 51, but Williams came back two weeks later at regionals, 44-57, and took second at NCAAs to the Panthers’ third.

Individually, Middlebury boasts the top two returners from the NESCAC last year in Alison Maxwell ’15 and Erzsie Nagy ’17. Maxwell garnered national accolades for her 18:00 performance at NEICAAAs and has run strong all season while Nagy, who battled an injury early in the season, has been improving with each race.

The front group will also hold Tufts junior Audrey Gould, who beat Maxwell at Purple Valley but fell behind at NEICAAAs, Amherst sophomore Savanna Gornisiewicz and a bevy of other Panthers and Ephs.

The team title is likely to be won by the packs of Middlebury and Williams runners: both teams like to run as groups, and could sacrifice an individual title if working with their teammates could guarantee a team championship.

The men’s race starts at noon and is followed by the women at 1:00 p.m., with awards following shortly thereafter. Races begin and finish on the rugby field behind the squash center.