Coach Erik Nedeau complimented both teams on their strong performances. "Despite maintaining a heavy work load throughout the week, the tired legs of the runners still carried them to some personal bests and a victory for the men and a runner-up finish for the women."
Women's Cross Country
The varsity women took second place overall with a score of 83 points. Trinity College edged the team out this week, while the Jeffs easily defeated them at the last meet. The Jeffs performed extremely well considering two of the top varsity women, junior standout Carter Hamill and sophomore Ginger Polich, were not in the running this weekend.
Co-captain senior John Stanton-Geddes was impressed with the women's performance. He said, "The women looked great-even without Carter-and will be even more fearsome upon her return."
Women's co-captain Erinn White '04 concurred. "The women had a great race yesterday. We definitely let a lot of teams know that we're going to be tough competitors this season," she said.
Senior Alyson Venti ran hard and finished second overall, complementing the teams second place finish. Throughout the race Venti kept pace with eventual champion Marissa Clapp of Springfield College, making the win a tough one. Venti finished with an excellent time of 17:34, easily breaking the 18-minute barrier.
Right behind her was freshman harrier Shauneen Garrahan, who nearly overcame the 18-minute barrier with a time of 18:02, taking third place and achieving a new personal best time.
White praised her teammates, saying, "Aly and Shauneen had two exceptional performances. Both set impressive personal best times. With a course that is flat and fast, it's always a confidence builder to see quick times this early in the season."
Sophomore Margaret Davis broke the 19-minute mark and made the top 25 with her 22nd-place overall finish. Keeping Davis on her toes were White and sophomore Jenny Horowitz, who finished 27th and 32nd, respectively, rounding out the final scoring varsity runners for the day.
Junior Alison Rodriguez proved to the team that she ran hard over the summer. On Saturday, for the first time ever, Rodriguez ran under the 20-minute mark, smashing her former personal best with a new time of 19:34.
The women's junior varsity team started off the meet. Aparna Nancherla '05E and senior Anne McNamara paced well and pulled off top-15 finishes. Coming in next for the Jeffs were Kristen Reid '06 and freshmen Katina Hubbard and Bryn Pallesen; all three making their college cross country debuts.
Men's Cross Country
The men were able to hold on to Saturday's lead by a very slim margin. Only one point separated them from runner-up Tufts University. Nevertheless, the purple men were victorious with a 64-point win.
John Stanton-Geddes highlighted the team's performance. "We made a statement that we deserve our ranking as one of the top teams in the region this year by putting four runners in the top 12," he said. "When we're running at full strength, we'll be competitive at any meet we go to," he added.
Similar to their last meet, co-captains Michael Page '05 and Stanton-Geddes finished together, just a mere hundredth-of-a-second apart. These men ran extremely well, clocking in at under 26 minutes, and snatching fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively. Page set a new personal best, breaking the 26-minute barrier.
Stanton-Geddes commented on his teammate's performance. "Page had a fantastic last mile to catch me and we finished consecutively again," he said. He then added a comment about the whole team, saying, "It was a solid effort by everyone."
Junior Matthew Katz crossed the finish line only a few seconds later to secure a ninth-place finish. Katz missed setting a new personal record for cross country by three seconds. Behind Katz ran fellow junior Jack Morgan who, according to Nedeau, had an extremely strong finishing kick. Nedeau said, "Jack Morgan, started off conservatively in the race, but ripped the last 2 miles to finish strong in 13th."
Freshmen Cooper Knowlton and Brandt Tullis took fifth and sixth spots on the team, respectively.
In the men's junior varsity race, the top placing Jeffs, sophomore Evan Guiney and first-year Richard Wilson, paced each other for the entirety of the race, finishing 18th and 20th, respectively. Robert Boley '07 not only busted the thirty minute barrier, but he also knocked five minutes off his old personal best time.
This coming Saturday, Sept. 27, is the Twin Brook Invitational. The team will travel to the University of Southern Maine to compete.