PU cross country sweeps Heps

Tigers rule men’s, women’s races

By: Justin Feil
   Princeton University came away with two Heptagonal cross country titles when it ventured to Van Cortlandt Park on Friday.
   It was just the fourth time in Heps history that a school has gone home with both crowns. The Tiger men last won in 1999. The Princeton women ended an even longer spell. They had not won a Heps cross country crown since 1980.
   "There’s nothing better," said PU men’s senior captain Paul Rosa. "The Heps championship is something I’ve been looking forward to all four years. It makes it all the sweeter that it’s the first girls championship since 1980. And it’s only the fourth sweep. That was pretty awesome."
   Rosa was the Tigers’ second finisher, fifth overall. Dave Nightingale was third overall in 24:33.3. Michael Maag finished seventh, while Robert Grote and Ben Sitler finished out the top five for the Tigers in 17th and 18th place respectively. Princeton finished with 50 points while runner-up Columbia had 63. Dartmouth was third with 97.
   "When we ran at Pre-Nats, every person ran better than we had run last year," Rosa said. "We felt good about that. We placed lower as team (at Pre-Nats), which was weird, but we beat Dartmouth and Columbia who were supposed to be our toughest competition. (Coach Steve) Dolan likes us to be kind of the underdogs. We were confident about being up there, but not sure how the whole race would pan out."
   The men’s cross country and women’s cross country teams both used depth to dominate their respective fields. While the formulas were the same for the teams, how the two races exactly shaped up was very different from their expectations.
   "We had a strategy," Rosa said, elaborating, "push the pace up front from the beginning. We felt we had a deeper team and could stay up front more. If we had kept it easy to the 5k, we wouldn’t have been as successful.
   "It did end up working out. Dave Nightingale did great job up front making sure it was honest. By time we got to the 5k, there was only a group of the top 10 and some of other packs had fallen off."
   On the women’s side, it was a pair of freshman who led the Tigers. Christy Johnson was fifth overall and Liz Costello was seventh. Sophomore Jolee VanLeuven was eighth, Catha Mullen ninth and Caroline Mullen 13th to round out the top five. Princeton easily outdistanced defending champion Columbia, 42-64.
   "We were expecting to come around the first mile in 5:40 and pick it up for the back hills and pound the last part," said Johnson, who covered the 5k course in 17:34.0. "We came around the mile mark at 5:27. It was scary. Then the girl started picking it up from 5:27.
   "Coming across mile one, I still felt good. I knew once I got up those hills, it was pretty much downhill all the way through."
   Princeton’s first seven all finished in the top 18 at Heps. It was the perfect way to bounce back from the Tigers’ last performance. While the men’s team had been encouraged by its showing at Pre-Nationals, the women, who were ranked seventh at the time, were set back somewhat.
   "The previous race at Pre-Nats, we weren’t happy how we did there," Johnson said of the team’s ninth-place finish. "Pre-Nats was kind of a wake-up call. No one had a great race. We were all disappointed how we did."
   Johnson was one of three freshmen in the Tigers’ top seven Friday. Costello was Princeton’s second finisher while Alexa Glencer was 18th overall. They have been instrumental parts of the Tigers’ success, even if they weren’t so sure where they would fit in before the start of the season.
   "It’s been a surprise to everyone," Johnson said. "It helped a lot that the upperclassmen have been so cooperative. They’ve been awesome. They’ve made it easier.
   "I didn’t think I’d be on varsity. I thought I’d be on the edge of that. I knew freshman year, it’s one to try to not be injured and get used to the workload. The Mullens were awesome. Caroline and Catha coordinated everything in the first weeks. They were incredible."
   The Mullens are captains for the track and cross country teams. Rosa has tried to provide the same sort of leadership for the men’s team, but has been happy to be more than just a leader in name alone. His comeback from tendinitis has been inspirational and a boost to the team’s talent.
   "I had done decently well sophomore year," Rosa said. "After cross country my sophomore year, I was pretty much out the rest of sophomore year and didn’t really come back. This was my first really good season in a year and a half. It felt great to finally feel I was ready to help the team out again. I wanted to do well at Van Cortland and do well for myself. It helped to know I was running well for my team. We basically needed people to step up. Dartmouth and Columbia were not going to give it to us."
   Having been with the team for four years, Rosa knows well what makes this year’s team special. It’s something that has been building over the last three seasons to culminate Friday.
   "We’re much deeper than we’ve ever been," Rosa said. "We were able to put in all seven of our guys before every other team’s fifth guy, except Columbia had its five in before our seven.
   "I think we felt a lot different going into Heps than in the past," he added. "There’s a better team atmosphere. I felt more ready for it, at least mentally. I think everyone else was feeling like that too."
   The Princeton women, too, knew that their advantage was their depth. The Tigers had been close to Columbia the past three years, finishing second in each of those seasons at Heps, but broke through Friday. It was depth that made the difference.
   "That was the theme of our coach’s pre-race talk," Johnson said of Peter Farrell’s words. "That is definitely our strength. That’s what distinguishes us as a team. We run the first mile, and there’s four Princeton girls right there. We won without necessarily a superstar."
   Princeton drew plenty of alumni support. The Tiger teams rewarded them with a double victory, one that was a long time in the making.
   "It’s incredible," Johnson said. "It’s so awesome we did it with the boys team too. It’s so perfect. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day."
   Added Rosa: "It’s certainly the way I would have dreamed about capping off my senior year."