A stellar season for Columbia harriers came to a close this Saturday over the rain-soaked fields of Boston’s Franklin Park. The men finished fourth of 36 teams and the women eighth of 35 at the Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships. Both were short of the second-place position required for automatic advancement to the National Championships, which will take place on Nov. 23.
No. 11 Syracuse upset pre-race favorite No. 9 Iona on the men’s side, 59-55. The third spot, and sole at-large bid to NCAAs, was taken by No. 23 Providence. Columbia equaled its regional ranking of fourth in the Northeast, right behind the Friars with 125 points.
Sophomore Kyle Merber led the charge at 15th overall, ending the season with no finish worse than second among the Lions at any meet. The performance marked an excellent fall season for the precocious Long Islander who specializes in the 1,500-meter on the track.
Junior Terence Prial finalized a monumental season that witnessed his rise to the spot of top competitor for the Lions with an 18th-place finish, ahead of juniors Brendan Martin and Anthony Merra, who placed 24th and 26th, respectively. Sophomore Justin Heck rounded out the top five at 42nd, while junior Matt Ciambriello and senior Bobby Hartnett finished 66th and 74th.
The Syracuse women complemented the men’s title with a victory of their own. Likewise, No. 21 Providence was outpaced by the Syracuse Orange, 70-59. Stony Brook, Iona, and Boston College each outperformed their rankings to finish third with 140 points, fourth with 144, and seventh with 184. The Ivy League struggled, as both Harvard and Columbia failed to match pre-race rankings in the Northeast. No. 3 Crimson was fifth with 149 points, while the No. 4 Lions took eighth with 210. The finish was equal to the Lions’ lowest ranking of the season, in weeks four and five.
Junior Jackie Drouin led the women once again, finishing 21st overall. Fellow junior Julie Quinn was joined by freshmen Camille Murphy and Emily Lanois at 44th, 47th, and 48th. The rest of the Lion contingent was through the line by 60th place, with freshmen Clare Buck and Caroline McDonough 50th and 55th, and senior Christina Henderson 57th. The women’s eighth place finish was not the result of a radically poor performance on the part of any individual—their pack of 2-7 was just too far behind the pace Drouin set.
Though lacking the magic of the Ivy Heps, the Regionals performances were positive overall. Both teams fulfilled expectations as opposed to exceeding them. The majority of each squad will return for the 2010 season, and it is quite possible that this season will go down in the annals as one that saw the conference success of a younger team that foretold regional and national success.
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