Although both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams had their hopes of a berth in the NCAA title race dashed last weekend, when they compete tomorrow at the IC4A and ECAC championships, respectively, tomorrow, they’ll still have something to run for.
Pride.
“It’s a big meet and obviously we want to do well,” men’s head coach Nathan Taylor. “The kids are committed to making up for their performance [last weekend], which was significantly sub-standard.”
At the NCAA Regional meet last week, the men finished ninth while the women placed seventh.
Just before the race, the men’s top runner, junior Max King, suffered a sprained ankle, and consequently was hampered enough to finish well out of qualifying for a NCAA Championship berth.
King, however, will run tomorrow, according to Taylor, who added that his ankle is about 90%.
While pre-race problems troubled the men, post-race heartache characterized the women’s performance. Senior co-captain Kim Chatman — who advanced to the championship race last year — missed qualifying by less than a second.
“I think they’ll be motivated,” Taylor said.
Though the indoor track season begins in a couple of weeks, both teams are sending their top runners to Van Cortlandt Park — which will host both the IC4As and the ECACs.
For several seniors on both sides, tomorrow’s races represent a final chance to don a Cornell uniform.
“I think the seniors that are running definitely want to end their cross-country careers on an up note,” said Taylor.
While schools who qualified for NCAAs will be absent from tomorrow’s races, both the IC4As and ECACs will nonetheless feature several of the top squads from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions.
“People are looking forward to it and excited about the opportunity,” remarked women’s head coach Lou Duesing. “It’s a championship meet and so I want people to run and expect people to run like it’s a championship meet.”
Archived article by Shiva Nagaraj