Sports
Cross Country teams look to improve under senior leaders
By Jane Bary ’19
September 3, 2015
The men’s and women’s cross country teams are off to the races after beginning practices last week. Both teams bring back many of last year’s standouts, and that experience should carry the Continentals to improved performances in the conference championships, as well as potential national bids.
Hamilton’s men’s squad returns its top five scoring runners this year, plus a handful of runners who spent last fall abroad or injured. With four first-year runners in the mix too, the team should be able to improve on last season’s ninth place finish in the NESCAC conference, and put up another good showing in the Atlantic Regional championships, where the Continentals finished an impressive eighth out of 41 schools last year.
The Continentals have big goals for the year, as the men’s seniors hope to cap off their collegiate careers with a showing in the national championships.
“That’s something we’ve been building for the last four years, since we got here as freshmen,” captain Evan Abelson ’16 said.
The team could directly qualify for nationals with a strong performance at the regional meet, or Hamilton could be selected based on solid showings throughout the season. Additionally, individual team members could qualify if they place among the top runners at regionals.
The Continentals also hope that their experience can help them place better in the conference. With the NESCAC being arguably the strongest conference for most Division III sports, including cross country, the men’s team faces some stiff competition among its NESCAC peers, seven of whom were nationally ranked last year.
“This year we’re definitely hoping to be in the top five,” captain David Freeman ’16 said. “It’s kind of a mini national meet in itself, so it’s exciting to run in, but it’s a tough one.”
Adam Pfander ’16 returns to the cross country squad after spending last fall abroad. He qualified for the national meet his sophomore year. Captain Harry Sullivan ’16 could also be a top performer for the Continentals, after narrowly missing out on an individual national bid in 2014.
With a few practices under their belt, the team members are excited to be back in the groove of their workouts and look forward to the season ahead.
“The practices range from just being six miles at a steady pace to being workout days, where we’ll do repeats of some distance, like mile repeats, closer to our race pace,” Sullivan said. Members of the team run anywhere from 50 to 100 miles per week in practice to prepare for races that are usually eight kilometers.
Longtime head coach Brett Hull thinks that the initial practices have been promising and notes that his runners returned in good shape this fall.
“We are happy with what we have seen thus far,” Hull said. “They all put in their summer training and we will have good depth.”
After a rebuilding year last season, the women’s cross country team also looks poised to perform better at the NESCAC and regional championships. The Continentals placed eighth among the 11 NESCAC schools last fall, and came in 13th out of 40 teams in the Atlantic Regional championships.
“Our goals as a team are really attainable and doable,” Hanna Jerome ’18 said. “We can absolutely place better at NESCACs and at our regional race. Once we come together and figure out each other’s strengths and weaknesses, especially with the freshmen, it’s going to be a great season.”
The team finished just a hair behind Connecticut College in last year’s NESCAC championships, and comfortably ahead of the three weakest teams in the conference. After losing only two top seniors to graduation, the Continentals could easily rise a spot or two in the NESCAC standings this season.
One bright spot in 2014 was when Lainie Smith ’16 qualified for the national championships. Her performance has many of her teammates aiming for national berths this year as well.
“It made everyone realize that it’s doable, and this can happen,” Samantha Buttrick ’17 said. “We’ve seen it happen just from someone working really hard.”
Hamilton returns standouts Smith, Buttrick and Jerome, and the team expects several first-years to factor into the equation early on, based on strong performances at the time trials held during the first practice on Aug. 27.
Coach Ellen Hull, in her 23rd year with the Continentals, instructs her runners to do between 30 and 50 miles per week in practices. The team has a couple of early-morning runs each week, as well as more intense workouts several afternoons. Competitions usually take place on Saturdays, and team members have Sundays off to rest their bodies.
Much of the women’s cross country squad also competes in indoor and outdoor track and field, and runners who do middle-distance events for track spent their summers building up their mileage to prepare for cross country races that are generally longer. Many of the team’s big fall meets are 6six kilometers, whereas runners may be used to competing in shorter 400-meter or 800-meter events during the track seasons.
Both the men and women will compete against local schools to start the season and finish up with the state, conference, regional and possibly national championships.
The men’s and women’s squads will race twice at home in October, including the state championship event.
First up for both teams is the Saratoga Invitational on Sept. 12.