On Saturday Nov. 15, the Panther cross country teams competed in the NCAA New England regional meet hosted by Williams College, with both teams finishing high enough to qualify for the upcoming NCAA championships.
In the regional, the top two teams and top seven non-qualifying individuals earned invitations to the NCAA National Championship on Nov. 22 in Wilmington, Ohio. Additionally, 16 at-large bids were awarded across the country for top non-auto qualifying teams. Coming off a NESCAC Championship meet in which the men placed third and the women were victorious, the Panthers looked to punch their tickets to Ohio.
The men started the day with a fifth-place team finish with 136 points, meaning they had to wait 24 hours until the reveal of the at-large bids to know if they had secured a place at the national meet.
Colby continued its strong season by winning the meet with 63 points. Amherst, which took fourth at NESCACs, took a surprise second-place finish with 69 points — a point ahead of third-place MIT. Williams, which entered the meet ranked fourth nationally, had an off day and finished fourth in the region with 85 points.
History was on the side of these New England teams, however, as the selection committee traditionally selects five or six teams from the region. This year was no different, as the Middlebury men were awarded a bid and will compete as a team at the national championship for the fifth consecutive year.
As has been the case throughout the season, the men were lead by Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Kevin Wood ’15. Schaaf took home a 10th-place finish — the best of his career — completing the eight-kilometer course in 25:40. Wood was just two seconds off Schaaf’s pace, finishing 14th in 25:42. Sebastian Matt ’16 was the third Panther to finish, taking a 25th-place finish in 26:04. Jake Fox ’15 and Sam Cartwright ’16 were final two scorers with 37th and 50th-place finishes, respectively.
The women took to the course after the men with high expectations. In a closely contested race, the Panthers took second to qualify automatically for the national meet with 65 points while MIT won the race with 40 points.
Alison Maxwell ’15 followed up her NESCAC victory with a second-place finish, circling the six-kilometer course in 21:48 — nine seconds behind regional champion Sarah Quinn of MIT.
Summer Spillane ’15 crossed the line just behind Maxwell, securing fourth place in 21:54. Adrian Walsh ’16, making her New England region debut, took 12th in 22:17 and Katie Carlson ’15.5 scored 16 points with a time of 22:27. Erzsie Nagy ’17 rounded out the top five with a 31st-place finish in 22:47.
The women’s race played out in an unusual faction.
“We had three of our top girls leading the pack initially,” Spillane said. “MIT’s top four or five swarmed around us to lead the race a good 50 meters in front of us. Alison and I motioned to other girls to stay calm and slowly move up to them. They held strong until mile two and then started breaking up. By mile three Alison and I had closed in on their pack and passed all but their top runner. However, it was definitely a tactic we were not expecting, and it worked for them yesterday.”
Both teams will compete on Nov. 22 at the NCAA Championships in Wilmington, OH.
The men posted a program-best finish of seventh last year while the women took third. The women, who won most recently won a national title in 2010, are looking to get back to their winning ways.
“We are hungry for the national title, but also aware that we can’t over look strong teams like MIT or Johns Hopkins,” Spillane said. “We realize we need to stay focused and aggressive the whole way through. In big races it is only seconds that separate the All-Americans from the rest of the pack.”
