BY DARCY NELSON

In print | Published November 4, 2004

Last weekend’s Centennial Conference Cross Country Championships were full of impressive performances. James Golden ’05 and defending champion Lang Reynolds ’05 completed the 8K course in 27:08.10 and 27:11.11, placing 12th and 13th respectively in the race. Both secured spots in the top 14, earning the two harriers All-Conference honors as well as a third-place finish for the team.

Next came Garret Ash ’05, Ross Weller ’08 and Adam Hunt ’06, all crossing the finish line within the same second. Ash placed 26th (27:58.21) Weller placed 27th (27:58.22) and Hunt placed 28th (27:58.23). “Ross Weller had a great race. I was excited to see him finishing with Adam and Garrett,” Golden said. But the scoring did not stop there. Keefe Keely ’06 finished the course in 28:11.29, earning 34th place, and Mickey Katz ’08 crossed the line at 28:28.34, taking 41st.

“The team ran really well,” Reynolds said. Although Reynolds admits that some of the runners may not have had their best races, he was very happy with the team’s finish. “We really showed our depth by still placing third,” Reynolds said. “The course was really hard, and everybody ran really smart.”

Last year, Reynolds took first place in the conference meet. “After winning last year, it’s a little disappointing not to be in front again, but all things considered I’m happy with the way things went,” Reynolds said. “Both James and I had good races, passing a lot of people in the last two miles.”

Illness was a small factor in the Garnet performance, although coach Pete Carroll believes his runners ran a strong meet overall. “We were two runners away from having a perfect day,” Carroll said. “Jim Kreft, who got the flu Thursday, was only able to run at 80 percent. If he’s healthy, we might get Dickinson. Otherwise, all the other guys picked up the slack.”

The lower the number of points a team has accumulated by the end of the meet, the higher its place is. The Garnet accumulated 87 team points to finish behind Dickinson and Haverford.

“I thought our team ran really well at the meet,” Golden said. “I was glad that we beat Muhlenberg because they beat us earlier in the year. It was frustrating to get so completely destroyed by Haverford, though.” Haverford, a cross country and track powerhouse, took first place by a commanding 18 points. “Haverford has been unbelievable this season; they just keep getting better and better. If you take them out, though, James and I only got beat by a couple of guys, so that’s encouraging for Regionals,” Reynolds said.

The team travels to the NCAA Mid-East Regional meet on Nov. 13 at Allegheny. “The [conference meet] course was very hilly and tough, so I am looking forward to the flatter course at the regional meet,” Golden said. The team will be working hard to get ready for Regionals.

“Now we’re going to re-focus and train hard for another two weeks, and I think we have a good shot at doing well as a team at Regionals,” Reynolds said. “Hopefully we can beat Dickinson and send a few guys to Nationals.”

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