M., W. Cross Country Teams Disappoint at Home

Competing against colleges from all around New England, the Harvard men's and women's cross-country teams ran their best races of the season to finish 6th overall for the men and 4th for the women in the New England Championships at Franklin Park on Friday.

Runners from Division I, II and III schools competed in this regional tournament, which drew 250 contestants for the women's race and 290 for the men's.

Many runners on the Harvard women's team ran in a fast pack and managed to finish with personal record times. Senior Bethany Helms recorded the fastest time for the Crimson, 18:00, a personal best and finished 11th overall for the five-kilometer race.

Junior Mary Unsworth (18:13) and sophomore Leann Hymas (18:14) respectively finished second and third for Harvard and 23rd and 24th overall. Freshmen Deirdre Colgan (18:43) made a respectable first-year debut placing 5th for Harvard and 59th overall.

The men's team ran a strong race as well. Senior Dave Martin (24:44) and junior captain Ed Baker (24:47) placed first and second for Harvard respectively and 11th and 13th in the race overall. Freshman Nathan Shenk-Borig (25:27) had an impressive race by clocking his best college time so far and running third best among the Crimson, 46th overall.

Harvard Women

From the beginning of the race, Harvard ran according to its game plan. All week the team had been practicing running in packs and keeping up a good pace for the whole event. The work paid off as Harvard had its best performance of the season so far.

"The women ran much closer together in this race," Harvard Coach Frank Haggerty said. "I think they realized that it was time to do something really big, and they did, and now they know they can do it."

Helms paced the team, and she is confident that this race shows how good Harvard can be in two weeks at Heptagonals.

"The team did awesome today," Helms added. "We all came together finally; we've been expecting this for a long time. We have a good, strong pack in front now, and that makes all the difference. That's how we're going to beat teams at Heps."

Helms ran well despite being bothered a bit during the race by a reoccurring illiotibial band injury in her knee.

"I was relatively happy with my race," Helms said. "I started being bothered by my injury again, so I ran cautiously, but that will be better by Heps."

Unsworth, running a best time at Franklin Park, and Hymas ran in the front pack with Helms for duration of the race.

Pacing herself just behind the first pack, sophomore Erin Larkspur finished 4th for Harvard and 37th overall with a time of 18:26.

Colgan also ran very well in her first college championship meet.

"This race was my best this year; I am still just getting in shape," Colgan said. "At one point in the race, we had four girls running all together--that is very different from high school. It was great because the whole time I could see someone [of my teammates] up ahead of me."

Indeed, Harvard ran impressively together as a team and was able to cut down the time between its No. 1 and No. 6 runners to about 40 seconds, from 60 seconds before.

"We got off to an excellent start," said captain Kate Moynihan who clocked in at 18:46, 6th for Harvard and 63rd overall. "There was a band of Providence people up together, but we were right with them."

The Providence runners faired very well, taking places 2 through 4, but Harvard was right on Providence's heels.

Harvard has next weekend off, so it will look to improve even more upon this race and come out even stronger at Heps.

"We have time for a lot of improvement in the next two weeks," Moynihan said. "We have been training for six weeks now, and so we are starting to see the benefits now."

Harvard Men

The Harvard men, like the women, ran their best race of the season at New Englands. Martin and Baker paced the team, running their best times on the course ever and were awarded All New England honors, given to those who placed in the top 15 overall. The rest of the team followed up with fast times, as well.

"Our No. 3 through 7 guys ran their best races of the year today," Haggerty said. "They are coming together at just the right time."

Although Martin and Baker ran well, they have both been sick recently and are expecting to run better in the coming weeks..

Indeed, Martin thinks he and Baker could have done much better, had they been healthy.

"We are capable of running much faster," Martin said. "Just to make All New Englands is not enough; we should both have been in the top five."

Overall, the team ran in a closer pack than they had had in earlier races. Like the women, the men have been working on reducing the gap between their No. 1 and No. 5 runners in preparation for Heps.

Shenk-Borig, in his first New England Championship, ran the best race of his college career, finishing 3rd for the Crimson. He kept up with Martin and Baker early in the race, but settled down to a good pace around the fourth mile.

"This was my best race this year by far," Shenk-Borig said. "I am still adjusting from five kilometers [the high school cross-country distance], so the last 2 mile were tough."

Sophomore Brian Schoenbeck (25:27) finished fourth for Harvard and 51st overall. Right behind Schoenbeck, sophomore John Friedman (25:49) finished fifth for the team and 70th overall, and senior Geoff Deschenes (25:50) finished sixth and 71st overall.

"Overall, we had a closer pack," Baker said. "There was not as big a gap between our No. 1 and No. 5 guys. Things are looking better for us."

Both teams race next at the Heptagonal Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. on October 29th.

"I am very happy with both teams," Haggerty said. "Both teams ran the best race of their seasons."