Cross Country squads march on to Duke

This weekend, Yale's cross country runners head to the green hills of Durham, North Carolina to race Duke University in the second week of the regular season. The men's squad will send its top eight runners in hopes of avenging last year's loss, while the women will look to repeat last year's victorious performance against the Blue Devils.

Last weekend, the squads competed in the Fordham Invitational at Van Cortland Park in New York City.

The women placed third behind first-place finisher Brown University. The squad had several individual standout performances. Ariana Kelly, MC '99, won the 5 km race with a time of 18:29, while teammate Shannon Duff, PC '99, placed third, 25 seconds behind Kelly. It was Kelly's first collegiate victory.

Coach Mark Young, ES '68, commented on Kelly's determination and work ethic, noting that Kelly "worked extremely hard over the summer, and entered the season prepared to contribute right away." Young added that he was "satisfied" with the team's results and pleased with the individual performances.

"A cause for concern is the [one-minute] gap we had between our second place and fifth place runners," Young said. "When you add up this gap and the [thirty-second] gap between first and second place, it's too large a gap for us to beat other teams with."

The women's team has a plethora of talented freshmen this season. "This is my largest squad in 15 years of coaching," Young noted. The freshmen are not simply numerous--they are also talented. Four of the top eight finishers in last week's event were freshmen. Young describes them as "unbelievable."

"Their unity, spirit and commitment are exceptional," Young said of the freshman crop. He pointed out that as long as the team can address the gap problem, depth should be its greatest strength. He emphasized the need for the players to have a "commitment to being good every day," and making the most of practices.

Dartmouth is the early season favorite in the Ivies and the region. "It would be an upset if we qualified as a team [to the NCAA tournament]," Young admitted. "Only three out of thirty regional teams make it. However, three individuals qualify independently of their teams. We could definitely qualify an individual or two."

Of the men's squad, captain Chris Karas, SM '98, said, "Our team's greatest strength is that we have no weaknesses." Last week, the team finished eighth at Fordham; none of the team's top five runners competed. Overall, coach Steve Bartold was pleased with the performance. He admitted that there was room for improvement. "Talk to me in a month and if we're not running better, I'll slit my wrists," Bartold said.

Karas says he too has high hopes for the season. "People are working out 10 times better than last year," he said. "There has been a huge jump in fitness and our top guys haven't even raced yet."

Both captain and coach agree that Brown is the team to beat in the Ivies. In Yale's NCAA district, only three out of 33 teams will qualify for the national tournament. In addition, there are three spots for individual runners from teams that don't qualify. Bartold says that the Bulldogs' chances of qualifying for the NCAA tournament are "probably not good," but he noted that but both Karas and Matt Taylor, MC '99, have a shot at qualifying as individuals.

Bartold cites the five experienced seniors as the team's greatest strength. Depth may be a problem for the men, however, since the three freshmen on the team are having some trouble adjusting to college-level cross country running. High school cross country runners train 20-25 miles a week; at the college level, this number jumps to 50-55 miles a week. Championship matches also jump from 5 to 10k.

"Physically, training is way harder than high school," Jack Lovejoy, PC '01, said. "I'm broken down. But with a positive attitude, if I keep working, I know I'll get better."

Lovejoy credits captain Chris Karas with making all the freshmen feel welcome. "He's an absolutely fantastic guy. He's not at all arrogant even though he's way more talented than the rest of us. He's a great friend for us little people."

"Our freshmen give us a lot to work with," Karas said. "They are in great shape and have a lot of potential."

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