X-Country Freshmen Shine at Meet of Champions

Following a bye week, both the Harvard men's and women's cross-country teams earned respectable finishes in the fifth annual Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park in New York on Saturday.

The men finished eighth at 205, out of a highly competitive field of 14, including national powers like No. 25 Dartmouth, which ran away with the meet, scoring just 40. (In cross-country scoring, low score wins). Host Iona, which finished second, was 28 points back at 68.

In addition to usual leaders junior captain Ed Baker and senior Dave Martin, who both finished in the top 30, debuting freshman Nathan Shenk-Boright made an immediate impact on the college scene, finishing just 30 seconds off Martin's pace.

The women followed suit with a 10th place finish in their race of seventeen teams. First-place Brown outscored the Crimson 58-263.

Senior Bethany Helms led the Crimson women, finishing 19th in a race of over 150 runners.

Harvard men

Though outrun by some of the finest teams that both New England and the nation had to offer, the men were able to fend off in-state rivals Boston University and UMass, which finished ninth and 10th.

Despite the fact that the Crimson finished in the middle of the pack, a sign of good things to come was evident as the Crimson received a very strong performance from their inexperienced, yet very talented freshman contingent.

"I'm impressed," Baker said. "This was the first time any of the freshmen have raced and already they are key contributors to the team, helping to account for a very strong team effort, an effort especially strong for such an early-season meet."

"The amount of improvement we could and should make by the end of the season is amazing," Baker added.

As expected, Harvard received solid performances from their two front runners, Baker (17th-25:36) and Martin (27th-26:02).

But breathing down the necks of these two exceptional upperclassmen was Shenk-Boright, who surprised in his first collegiate race, finishing in an impressive third position for Harvard and 48th overall at 26:33.

"I just felt good, though I did cramp up in the last mile and was forced to slow up a bit," Shenk-Boright said.

Not far behind, and making another strong debut on the college running scene was freshman Pat Boehm, who took fourth for Harvard in an almost equally stunning time of 27:02 over the draining five-mile course.

With these two freshmen leading the charge and a pack of nearly 10 classmates not far behind, the freshman class looks to supply the Harvard team with a much-welcomed boost, since the squad fields just seven upperclassmen.

Those upperclassmen continued to progress, as most of them markedly lowered their times relative to those at the Fordham Invitational run on the same course Sept. 11.

"A lot of guys PR'd [achieved a personal record], including myself by some 30-plus seconds," Baker said. "Furthermore we haven't even started tapering yet, so there's a lot of room to still improve in the weeks ahead."

Just as Harvard Coach Frank Haggerty '68's training schedule intends, it seems this team should continue to improve through the month of October, up to the Region One Championships on November 13th at Harvard's home course, Franklin Park.

Harvard women

This trend of improvement, however, was not limited to the men's team. Several members of the women's team enjoyed good races as well, with Helms leading the way (19th-18:25), followed closely by captain LeAnn Hymas (36th-18:48), who enjoyed a time improvement over her Fordham Invitational time at the 5K distance.

"We're right on track," Helms said. "We're improving week by week, looking to have our best performance at Heps [Heptagonal Championships]."

Though not to the same degree as the freshmen on the men's squad, the "fresh ladies," as Haggerty is fond of calling them, are making unprecedented progress. Top freshman Alaina Aguanno finished sixth among Harvard runners on Saturday.

But, more immediately, these young teams will square off with arch-rival Yale in a dual meet on Friday in New Haven. Led by seasoned upperclassmen, while revitalized by a large handful of upstart frosh, these Harvard teams expect to do quite well, perhaps as a sign of the many successful things to come.