Tough Day for Cross-Country at Heps

The men's and women's cross-country teams competed in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in New York City on Saturday, taking fifth and eighth place overall, respectively.

Dartmouth narrowly defeated Brown and Cornell in the women's race to complete a sweep of both team titles.

The men had a strong individual showing with sophomore lan Carswell finishing first for the Crimson and in fifth place overall, with a time of 25:13 for the 8000 meter course.

Junior teammate Brian Walsh was 12th overall in 25:55. The next two finishers for the Crimson were junior Darin Shearer and freshman Jamey Bianchi placing 45th and 48th, respectively.

Dartmouth claimed the team title in a rout, scoring 23 points by placing runners first, second, fourth, seventh, and ninth.

"Dartmouth was far more superior than any other team," Carswell said.

"I was very pleased with my performance, although I was hoping for a top three finish and possibly winning. The Van Cortland Park course was in the best condition it could have been, but as a team we were hoping for a lot more--most people weren't happy with the results," he said.

Team captain Matt Bundle, who usually places in the top five for the Crimson, had been sick and was unable to compete at peak performance level.

"Going into the meet everyone pretty much knew that Dartmouth would finish first, Columbia would finish ninth, and the seven places in between would be pretty much up for grabs," senior Dave McMurray said. "Unfortunately, we weren't too successful."

"We were hoping to do a lot better than we did," Walsh added. "We had tapered well prior to the race by cutting our workouts in half and felt rested for the meet."

The usual weekly workouts consist of 1000 meter or one mile repeat intervals mixed with eight to ten mile distance runs.

For the women's team, its performance was a two-place improvement on last year's seventh-place finish. The individual highlight was a seventh place finish overall by sophomore Karen Goetz, who completed the 5000 meter circuit in 18:42.

Both teams will compete in the NCAA qualifying meet in two weeks to be held at Franklin Park, in Boston. The women will be competing in the ECAC meet, and the men will race against runners from NCAA districts one and two in the Inter-Collegiate 4-A (ICAA) division meet.

Only the top two teams from each race advance to the NCAA meet. However, Carswell is likely in a position to qualify individually for the men's race if he places in the top three finishes.

"Our chances of going to the NCAA's aren't looking too hopeful," Carswell said. "In order to salvage our season we have to do well at the IC4A's."