O'Neill twins put cross country on the right track

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH Twin phenoms Laura O'Neill, TC '03, and Kate O'Neill, TD'03, leads a freshman class that is 12 strong.

At the Sam Bell Invitational Tournament on Sat., Sept. 25, Kate O'Neill, TD '03, crossed the finish line as Yale's first-place finisher. Four-tenths of a second later, Laura O'Neill, TC '03, finished as Yale's second-place runner. Laura is Kate's twin sister.

The freshmen twins have dominated Yale women's cross country early this season, running as Yale's top two finishers at both the Sam Bell and the Army-Columbia-Cornell meet earlier this month. "They have run very well so far," captain Molly Imber, SY '00, said. "But we don't want to put too much pressure on them in their first months at school."

Indeed, one of the factors working in their favor thus far has been the team's relaxed expectations. "The team has been so much fun to be with," Kate said. "The great thing about being a freshman is that they have no real expectations of me. I'm allowed to just run and enjoy it."

But beyond individual performances, the O'Neills have arrived on a team that has not managed to win an Ivy League title in a decade. With the arrival of the O'Neills and the rest of a freshman class that head coach Mark Young, ES '68, called "the deepest class we have ever had," that goal is suddenly in sight. "A league title is definitely a possibility, particularly for this class," Young said.

The sisters, who grew up in the town of Milton, Mass., just outside of Boston, have been running since the eighth grade, when both joined the Milton Academy cross country team. "I wasn't good at any other sports," Laura explained. Being on a team together meant that they not only each had a good friend on the team, but also someone to run with. "We always have pushed each other in a friendly way," Kate said. The sisters run together regularly, particularly during the summer months, in order to stay in shape.

The transition from a relatively small private school to a larger university is not always an easy one, but running has helped both Laura and Kate to adjust. "I can be very shy and have difficulty meeting people," Laura said. "But the team has been an excellent group and they have been very welcoming and supportive."

Even with the enthusiasm and support of her teammates, Kate admits, "I still get nervous before every race."

Both runners, who also plan to run track in the spring, spent much of their summer training for the season. The result has been phenomenal endurance that has pushed them to the top. "They are both very strong finishers," Imber said. "We usually run together until the last parts of the race, when [the twins] have the energy left to burst ahead."

Despite the O'Neills' knack for superb finishes, both Imber and Young pointed to the need for the twins—and the rest of the team—to work on "pack running," the type of running a competitor usually faces in the early stages of a race. During practices recently, Young has required the team to run as a pack, staying together at all times, in order to focus on this skill.

In what Imber initially referred to as a transition year, the presence of the O'Neills has prompted the team to set its sights higher. "For us, the season is all about two days in October," Young said in reference to the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet on Fri., Oct. 8, and the Ivy League championship on Fri., Oct. 29. Indeed, both Laura and Kate said that a solid performance at the HYP race in two weeks is a personal goal. "We'd love to win HYP," Laura said. "Princeton won last year, but we think we can and should reclaim victory."

Unfortunately, the squad has been plagued by injuries this year. "I would really like to see our upperclassmen step it up," Imber said. "We need to close the gaps between our first runners and our fifth- and sixth-place finishers." In the Army-Columbia-Cornell meet, the squad finished third despite having three runners in the top 10 finishers. However, its fifth and sixth finishers were 13th and 23rd, finishing nearly a full minute behind lead Eli runner Laura. Most recently, the Bulldogs had to settle for a sixth-place finish at the Sam Bell Invitational. Despite the exceptional performance of the O'Neill twins, Yale's fifth and sixth place finishers came in 47th and 71st, respectively.

Nonetheless, Young said he was "very pleased with the team's progress." With the addition of the solid freshman class, the Bulldogs seemed poised to compete for the league title. "It should be a definite goal of this class to win a league championship some time in their four years here," Young said.

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