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BY JASON HONGIN YUN

In print | Published November 6, 2008

Last Saturday afternoon, the Garnet cross country teams competed in the Centennial Conference Championships at Gettysburg College. The men’s team finished seventh out of nine schools while the women’s squad was fourth among ten teams.

The women’s team came in fourth overall with 93 points, only trailing Haverford by one point, meaning that if one of the top five runners finished one place further or one of Haverford’s girls finished one more place behind, the Garnet would have tied for third. On the women’s side, Melissa Frick ’12 finished eighth with a personal-best time of 23:03.17, leading the women’s team to a seventh place finish in a nine team-field. Nyika Corbett ’10 ran a season-best time of 23:32.66 to register a 15th place finish. Closing her Conference career, captain Kathy Feeney ’09 finished the race at 23:49.63 for a 21st place finish. Rounding out the scoring runners were Ashley Davies ’10 and captain Emma Stanley ’09 who finished the race with times of 23:50.46 and 24:04.96, respectively. Rebecca Woo ’11 and Hannah Rose ’12 crossed the line at 24:06.44 and 24:15.72 to register 28th and 30th places.

“It felt like we were out in the middle of a battleground — it was Gettysburg,” Frick said. “The Battle of Gettysburg caused some of the worst casualties in the Civil War, but acted as a turning point for the Union. The ladies suffered some casualties on the way, but I think this meet has given us plenty of motivation to do some significant damage at Regionals.”

Johns Hopkins women’s team won the championship with a score of 49, toppling Dickinson and Haverford who had scores of 83 and 92. The Johns Hopkins women’s team captured their first-ever Centennial Conference title, beating out eight-time defending champion Dickinson. “We really showed our depth and ran as a team this weekend. Cross country is not an individual sport, and when the going gets tough in the middle of the race, it’s great to be able to look in front of you and see another Swattie just ahead. No matter where in the race you are, you know there are teammates nearby who are pushing you to run harder and helping you get through the race,” Rose said.

On the men’s side, captain Erik Saka ’09 finished the race with a personal season-best time of 26:53.85 to earn a 24th place. Co-captain Dan Hodson ’09 came in 44th place, clocking in at 27:44.82. Patrick Harnett ’11, David Riccardi ’10 and Chris Mayer Bacon ’11 covered the course with times of 28:07.51, 30:12.68 and 30:47.40, rounding out the team scoring. Overall, the men’s team finished with a score of 212, and registered 8th place.

“As to how well our team performed, it could best probably be described by the phrase from the Roman poet Horace, ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.’ Although no one expired for our valiant cause, many suffered extreme travails and in so doing reached the heights of Roman glory,” Saka said. “If only we had been in a different age, Roman legions would have marched and hailed the greater glories that were displayed on the field of running this past Saturday.”

Unseasonably warm weather and the flat course were said to affect both teams’ performance. “I think some girls really had an advantage because of that but on the other hand, some women were negatively impacted by the heat. I didn’t really like the end of the course, because it was really just running around this enormous field,” Woo said. “It kept on dipping in towards the finish line, and then moving out again, so I was never really sure how far away from the finish I actually was. It was a little bit frustrating, especially because in the last 2000 meters of the race, you’re really just fighting not to give out.” “The conditions were less than optimal for some people but our months of tough training in all types of conditions paid off on Saturday,” Stanley said.

The cross country teams will return to action on Saturday, November 15th at Waynesburg, PA in the NCAA Mid-East Regionals.

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