This past weekend, the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in an invitational at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
Going into the race, the runners were worn out from a few workouts earlier in the week, which were aimed at preparing the athletes for races later in the season.
With this in mind, Coach Andrew Weishaar told the team to act as if they were competing in a “glorified time trial.” For spectators, however, there were no obvious signs that Rensselaer runners were tired. The men placed second in the meet and finished their first seven runners in the top 25. The women also had a strong performance and finished fifth overall.
After the race, Weishaar praised his team for their good effort by saying, “This weekend was a very good start to the season. We are significantly ahead of where we were last year and they ran very good times while training for the meet.”
At the invitational, senior captain Matt Haringa came in fourth place, helping Rensselaer’s top three male runners to finish in the top ten. The effort put forth by the top four finishers for RPI put them 30 seconds ahead of where the team’s front runner finished compared to last year. A combination of new recruits and strong performances from upperclassmen has allowed the Red Hawks to extinguish any preseason doubts competitors may have had regarding the team.
Many forget this, but running is a team sport as much as an individual competition. Having a teammate of similar ability to run with during a race makes things much easier. This becomes especially true as the end of the race nears and pain starts to set in. The top seven harriers for the Red Hawks were all within one minute of each other after crossing the finish line. The top three finished within three seconds of each other and runners four through seven were separated by 15 seconds. A large part of the men’s success on Saturday can be attributed to working in small groups.
Lauren Carter, who was selected to the All-Liberty League team last season, showed that she was ready for competition Saturday by leading the Red Hawks with her fourth place finish. A hard part of being a freshman in cross country is adjusting to the longer distance. Often this means going out a little slower than normal in order to have some gas left in the tank at the end of the race. Cathy Malloy, a freshman from France, had a strong 11th finish and realized that pacing early in the race is critical.
The men’s and women’s teams next invitational will be September 24, at Williamstown, Mass., against Williams College. The course, which is traditionally tougher than most because of extensive hills, will allow Rensselaer to test their endurance as well as their strength.
On Saturday, the cross country team will be traveling to Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., and will jog a foot race in remembrance of an RPI running alumnus who died unexpectedly last spring.
