Lofty expectations for runners

BY SCOTT GOLDBERG

The women's cross-country team appeared in the September issue of Sports Illustrated for Women, putting Yalies in the magazine for the first time. The article previewed the Bulldogs' upcoming season and compared twins Kate O'Neill, TD '03, and Laura O'Neill, TC '03, with another set of twins from second-ranked Boston College. However, a controversy developed because the magazine seemed to have misquoted Head Coach Mark Young's words. "Sports Illustrated made it sound like we were cutthroat competitors," Kate explained. "We didn't like the article because they made it seem like we were individuals instead of a team."

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY After a summer of training, the O'Neill twins are ready to assert their dominance in the Ivy Leagues.

After a breakout 2000 season highlighted by a victory at the New England Championships, the Bulldogs can easily put the article behind them and focus on building a closer team for the upcoming season. Only two seniors graduated from the team that also won the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet and the Heptagonal championships, and with so many familiar faces, the Yale cross-country team hopes to improve upon its seventh place finish at the 2000 NCAA Championships. "We have all stepped in as a group," Laura explained. "Cross- country is such a small group. Since we all work together, it is hard to single out one or two people."

"The team is very much the same as last year's, but we need to fill the void left by the graduation of last year's seniors," Young said. Hoping to fill that void are Captain Millie Grinstead, TC '02, and Alicia Rapson, TC '02, who should provide the necessary leadership to complement a team whose strength is in its younger talent—Yale's top three runners are all juniors.

However, the loss of role model Katherine LaFrance, TC '01, who dropped four minutes off her time over the course of four years, will take time to overcome. The Bulldogs will look to Rebecca Hunter, JE '04, and Amanda Brewster, BR '02, to replace the two graduated seniors. "They are really confident and make their presence known," Laura said.

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY The women's cross country team hopes to improve on its seventh place finish at the NCAA championships.

Because there are so few changes in the composition of the team, members can maintain the chemistry that they developed during the 2000 season. The Bulldogs plan to keep the same training regimen that proved so effective last year—a routine that combines swimming, running, and weight-lifting. "Everyone trained well this summer and most returning runners are back just as strong or stronger," Jeannine Ruby, DC '03, said, herself another in the set of talented junior runners.

The return of All-American runners Kate and Laura O'Neill helps to position the team for an improved performance this season. The two helped Yale finish seventh in the NCAA Championships with respectable individual finishes of 31st and 32nd. Although they performed well during the cross-country season, they did not display their full strength until the track season. The speedy twins finished third and fourth at the Penn Relays, but truly peaked at the Ivy League championship. Laura claimed victory in the 10,000-meter race, while Kate and Laura finished first and second, respectively, in the 5,000-meter race. "By the end of last year Kate and Laura were considered the top two runners in the league," Young said.

Over the summer, the twins spent their weeks training and preparing for a new season, increasing their total running distance to sixty miles a week along the trails of their hometown of Milton, Mass. "I love running; it puts order into life," Laura said. After classes, running releases tensions from school and gives me a chance to be a part of a wonderful group of people."

The method of scoring cross-country meets makes the one-two punch of the O'Neill twins even more effective. A school's total score is determined by summing the finishes of their top five runners; the winning school has the lowest sum. Having the top two runners in the league might allow the Elis to push back the top runners from other schools, thus improving the Bulldogs' performance.

It is intriguing that the twins consistently finish so close to each other. According to Young, when they compete in the same event, it's often difficult to separate their performances. "It's less about competition and more about keeping up. They push each other to be better," Young said.

"Kate and I don't cross the line at the same time, and we don't wait for one another," Laura echoed. "We are competitors, but we are also teammates. If I could lose to anyone, I'd rather lose to a teammate, because I want success for all my teammates."

With a victory in the Ivy League Championship, the Bulldogs would qualify for the regional championship, a meet that includes schools from New England and New York. With two other Ivy League schools, Brown and Columbia, qualifying for the NCAA meet last year, Yale's road to success will be a difficult one. Should Yale earn a trip to Regionals, it can earn one of two automatic berths to the NCAA championships.

Last year, Yale finished second, propelling the Bulldogs to their strong showing in the NCAAs. "The first-place team returns almost in full, and several other teams from the region received at-large bids," Young said. "So it'll be tough, but our goal is to earn one of the automatic spots."

According to Young, this year's team compares favorably with the Yale cross-country team that placed third at the NCAA Championships in 1987. The team looks to repeat at the Ivy League Championships, continue with bragging rights over Harvard and Princeton at the annual HYPs, and better their seventh-place finish at the NCAA championships, continuing the team's resurgence to the top.

"One of the most exciting things about this season is that none of the top five returning runners are seniors; there are four juniors and a sophomore," Young said. "So, we're looking at what we can do across the next two years."

Erin I. Lewis contributed to this article.

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