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The Spectator
Cross Country Fights Through Brutal Weather
by Cooper Creagan '13and Scott Bickard '11
Sports Writers
October 30, 2009
"It'll come to about 350 dollars," Hashem Zikry '13 heard from the receiver of his white I-phone. Zikry missed the 7:20 a.m. bus to the state championships at the University of Rochester, and was desperate for transportation. He even managed to miss a ride from Devon Lynch '11, who also missed the bus and was driving to the meet.
"As soon as I heard the taxi company say 350, I hung up," Zikry said. It was that kind of morning for the Hamilton men's team, who awoke to rain and a cold wind. They wouldn't even have Peter Kosgei '10 and his automatic first place for the weekend.
By race time, the weather made a complete turnaround from torrid weather into bright sunshine. However, the sun can be kryptonite to a cross country race, especially when it pokes out unexpectedly. The Continentals have always been a cold weather group and the heat definitely affected the team. Still, they managed to leave Rochester a little hungrier, a little saltier, and optimistic for a top six finish at NESCACs next Sunday.
Will Reid '10, battling the flu, came through for Hamilton in 23rd place (27:23), followed by James Grebey '12 (27:44), Garret Armbruster '10 (28:01) and Devon Lynch '11 (28:39) for an overall fifth place finish out of ten teams. The times and places weren't what the team was expecting. However, one encouraging idea emerged from this race: had the group performed as expected with Kosgei running, Hamilton could have upset Rochester and taken second in the meet.
Rochester is, as Coach Hull puts it, a "top five team in the region," and a spot in the top five in the region earns a chance to compete at nationals.
On the women's side, the Continentals faced many trials that may have impeded some performances on Saturday. Of course, it would be difficult to repeat last year's stellar third place team finish, in which the top five runners earned all-state honors by being among the first 21 to cross the finish line. This year, only Abby King '11 managed to do so, placing tenth with a time over a minute faster than last year.
Indeed, the foreign course was one of many obstacles for the Continentals.
Captain Kate Hails '10 reported, "The course was very different from our home course at Hamilton and this might have taken us by surprise – it was very flat and repetitive and a lot of the course was on pavement which we're definitely not used to."
This, coupled with the rainy weather the morning of the race, could upset any runner's focus.
"Our 1-5 split…was a lot bigger than it normally is," noted Hails of the 80-second gap between King and Meredith Fitzpatrick '11.
Between King and Fitzpatrick were Tory Grieves '12, Emily Potter '12 and Hails. However, the cross country women refused to let this dampen their spirits for too long.
In fact, the women will use what they learned from the state championships to make themselves a yet more potent force for the upcoming NESCAC Invitational. In terms of racing strategy, this most recent race has offered the Continentals a good learning experience. It is now the runners' job to internalize this lesson and implement a more effective racing strategy this coming weekend. The Continentals have also added more hill workouts to their training to prepare for Trinity's hilly course at Wickham Park – the site of this year's NESCAC race.
Speaking of which, the showdown between the female Continentals and the other 11 NESCAC schools will take place Sunday at high noon, with the men following at 1:00.