October 3, 2014
The Hamilton cross country teams were able to move up in their mile count standings from week two to week three.
The men’s team took sixth place at the Saratoga Invite on Sept. 13, surpassing teams such as Vassar, Siena and Union. Ben Yeo ’15 placed the highest of Hamilton competitors, coming in sixth out of 221 runners. Yeo clocked in at 19:03 on the 6-kilometer course. Close behind were Harry Sullivan ’16, Evan Abelson ’16, Jack Pierce ’17 and Dan Baer ’15, placing 36th, 40th, 46th and 61st, respectively.
The women’s team finished seventh at the Saratoga Invite. Lainie Smith ’16 continued her successful junior season as she led Hamilton with a 13th place finish out of 201 competitors. Smith covered the 5-kilometer course in a career best time of 17:59. Following Smith were Hanna Jerome ’18, Michelle Fish ’17, Emily Banzer ’15 and Carolyn King ’16, finishing 23rd, 47th, 65th and 74th respectively. Fish also put up a personal best with a time of 18:58.
Despite positive performances on the weekend of the 13th, Hamilton was not satisfied. The Middlebury’s Aldrich Invitational on Sept. 20, which hosted seven teams including NESCAC opponents Middlebury and Colby College, brought out the best in both the Hamilton men and women.
The men took third place improving their sixth place finish from the prior week. Yeo helped lead the men’s team for the third consecutive week placing third out of 82 runners. Yeo surpassed the eight kilometer course in only 26:47.
Rounding out the top five for Hamilton were none other than Sullivan, Abelson, Baer and Pierce, placing 12th, 14th, 19th and 32nd respectively. Abelson, who has been having a productive season, commented on the team’s success thus far: “The season has been fantastic… the results are starting to show that. We were ranked 10th in the Atlantic region in the latest Coach’s Poll, which was the first time in my three years here that we have made it into the top 10. We are beating the teams we should beat and mixing it up with some of the nation’s best.”
He then applauded the strength of the team, saying, “We are a very mature team. For many guys this isn’t our first rodeo and racing experience is something you can’t teach.”
The women were not about to let the men’s team take the spotlight, as they too made strides of improvement. Jerome took 14th place out of the 96 contenders. She finished the 5-kilometer course in 19:48. In heated pursuit were Banzer, Lindsay Heyer ’17, Alex Reading ’16 and Fish, finishing in 23rd, 24th, 27th and 28th, respectively, and rounding out Hamilton’s top five. Jerome commented on the team success as well as her own, saying, “Whether it is 6:45 practices or 10-mile runs, the team has been working really hard…I am challenged by my own teammates everyday during practice.”
This friendly competition allows the women’s team to set and surpass their own standards. Smith would also say a strength of the team is that “we have a strong freshmen class that has given our team some depth. Everyone is training pretty smart too, and doing a lot outside of practice for injury prevention.” With depth and dedication like this, it is no wonder the team is seeing results.
Abelson is also excited because “the team is looking great for the weekend. We hope to see the debut of two more members-Moses ‘16 andFreeman’16 of last year’s varsity squad coming off of injury to bolster our depth.”
Smith showed similar enthusiasm for the weekend, saying “We are running a course that is familiar to us and is flat, meaning we should get some fast times. Also, it is our first 6k of the season so it will be exciting to see what we can do with a longer course.”
Having had this past weekend off from competition, both the men’s and women’s teams will look to take advantage of their fresh legs. The teams will next venture off to the SUNY Geneseo Invitational held in Letchworth State Park on Oct. 4. The race will be a good warm-up for the Continentals’s second home match of the season, the Hamilton College Invitational over Parents’ Weekend on Oct. 11.
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