The NCAA cross country circuit featured a stop at home this weekend, with teams from across the country lining up at the Meadows for the Princeton Fall Classic. Despite an action packed racing weekend all around the nation, including the Arturo Barrios Invitational in Texas and the illustrious Wisconsin Pre-Nationals meet, the Princeton Fall Classic attracted plenty of top talent, with a total of 11 ranked teams in attendance for the men’s 8k and women’s 6k races.
The Princeton men and women each faced fields of 22 teams, in which the women placed 8th, and the men found themselves on the podium, placing 3rd.
The Meadows course will also play host to the Ivy League Cross Country Championships in two weeks time, and both squads are anticipating strong showings.
Men make the podium, falter against other Mid-Atlantic squads
Throughout the race, the No. 17 men traded the top spot back and forth with No. 19 Villanova, but the Wildcats would ultimately prevail with a winning total of 70 points. In the latter stages of the race, No. 26 Georgetown also surged ahead of the Tigers, putting up 87 points to finish second. Princeton rounded out the podium positions, scoring 92 points for third place overall.
This finish order among the ‘big three’ Mid-Atlantic teams painted a much different picture of the region than did September’s Nuttycombe Invitational. Princeton was the top Mid-Atlantic team at Nuttycombe and has been ranked No. 1 in the region every week since the release of the first coaches poll, but has since dropped to No. 3 in regional rankings for this week.
Princeton’s top finisher at both of these meets, junior Myles Hogan, wrote to The Daily Princetonian that the Tigers were “not particularly elated with the team scores” this time around.
If the Tigers wish to automatically qualify to the NCAA Championships in late November, they will need to place either first or second at the regional championship meet, which will likely mean beating one or both of the Wildcats and the Hoyas.
Princeton did beat No. 11 UNC and No. 23 Syracuse, although both teams were running short handed. Despite missing their biggest star Parker Wolfe, the UNC men still secured the individual crown, thanks to a blazing 22:34.4 from Ethan Strand.
Finishing times were incredibly fast across the board. Nine Tigers broke the 24-minute mark, led by Hogan’s 23:04.1, which earned him 8th place out of 237 finishers.
Senior Nicholas Bendtsen, sophomore Weston Brown, and junior Jackson Shorten also raced their way to top-20 placements, coming in 15th, 19th, and 20th respectively, with times of 23:14.4, 23:21.2, and 23:21.5. Junior Connor McCormick was the team’s fifth scorer on the day, crossing the line in 23:36.7 for 31st place.
Although several of these marks are high atop the all-time Princeton leaderboard for 8k, times are not the concern of this Tigers team.
“Definitely less concerned with individual results or times run,” Hogan told the ‘Prince.’ “These things are arbitrary and pale in comparison to team scoring. We’re more focused on lining up a solid scoring squad at Heps and on into the postseason.”
The next race for the men is the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships, (“Heps”), which will follow the exact same course the Tigers acquainted themselves with at the Fall Classic.
Princeton is seeking a fourth consecutive men’s team Ivy title, and will battle No. 20 Harvard and the Crimson’s defending national champion Graham Blanks.
“The depth of our squad is special and I really believe we can pack up and do big things at the coming meets,” Hogan said optimistically.
Women finish in 8th place, continuing strong fall campaign
Coming off of a top three finish of their own at the Paul Short Invitational two weeks ago, the women’s team had another good outing at the Princeton Fall Classic, placing eighth out of 22 competing teams.
The Tigers 202 points secured them a top ten finish, first among the six Ivy League programs in attendance. It took 59 points for No. 9 Georgetown to secure the overall team title in a close contest against No. 10 Providence who scored 65.
Sophomore Anna McNatt led the way for the Tigers, following up her 12th place finish at Paul Short with another strong clocking, crossing the line in a time of 20:10.2, good for 18th out of 236 in the field.
Senior Lexi Allen was next for the Tigers, taking 30th place in a time of 20:21.5. Not long after, freshmen Emma De Jong and Meg Madison and sophomore Olivia Martin would come home in 49th, 54th, and 56th to finish out Princeton’s scoring five.
Senior Mena Scatchard, the team’s top finisher from Paul Short, dropped out a little past the halfway point. According to head coach Brad Hunt, she had been dealing with an illness.
This crucial loss did not prevent the Tigers from having a good day. Coach Hunt designated the performance “a strong showing as a team” in a message to the ‘Prince’. McNatt expressed similar sentiments, describing the team’s race as “really solid overall.”
The team adopted a reserved strategy in the opening kilometer, as instructed by coach Hunt. While this was the Tigers’ first time racing a full 6k on the Meadows course, it has been the site of many workouts this season, allowing the runners to have a good idea of its profile and informing their conservative early approach.
“We know from working out on the course that it starts on a downhill but finishes with 1200m uphill, so going out too hard could really hurt you,” McNatt told the ‘Prince.’ “There’s a careful balance of taking a risk and ‘putting yourself in the mix’ up front while still being smart and not getting yourself into trouble for later in the race.”
Knowing the course could be a source of advantage at Heps. The Tigers took down Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, and Columbia at the Fall Classic and bested Yale at Paul Short. This leaves only Harvard unbeaten by the Tigers on the season, and these two squads are likely to be the two top competitors at the Ivy League Championships.
“From the team perspective, Heps will essentially be a dual meet between us and Harvard, and Harvard will have never raced on our course before, so that will give us a leg up for sure,” McNatt said. “We've approached every race and every practice this season with the belief that we can be Ivy League champions, and we fully intend to make that happen.”
Luke Stockless is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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