The Williams men’s cross country team demonstrated the
profound depth of this year’s team by winning their third
consecutive ECAC championship at Mt. Greylock High School. The Ephs
won the race with 45 points ahead of Keene State and Oneonta.
Williams traditionally sends their “second seven”
runners to this championship event, providing the varsity squad
with one last week of solid preparation for the NCAA regional and
national meets. This year’s second seven was composed of five
juniors, one sophomore, and one senior, all of who gutted out
tremendous races to complete their cross country season.
One could argue that today’s conditions were perfect for a
championship race—cloudy and chilly with temperatures
hovering in the mid-forties and a light breeze from the south. The
ground was firm and fast only a week after the muddy NESCAC
championships, which were held at the high school under a nearly
constant driving rain. The Ephs began their warm-up perhaps a
little too early, leaving them with over twenty minutes before the
race to meditate on the effort at hand. When the starting gun
marked ten minutes before the race, the Williams harriers jogged to
the starting line and gathered for the customary bear toss. As
T-Bear soared toward the heavens, the Ephs received one last jolt
of inspiration.
Standing on the starting line seconds before the gun fired, the
Ephs recalled the summer training, the mountain climbs, the
grueling speed workouts, and the Sunday long runs that had got them
to this point in the season. These seven Williams runners had
proven themselves as consistent leaders among the tens of talented
athletes on the team. The road to ECAC’s was challenging for
many of them; sophomore Jeff Stenzel battled lower leg pain for a
large portion of the season, Steve Van Wert had carefully balanced
athletics with duties as a Junior Advisor all fall, Brooks Udelsman
needed to put some disappointing mid-season performances behind
him, and senior Jim Clayton had only two days before narrowly
escaped anaphylactic shock after eating a walnut.
The hardships the runners experienced over the course of the
season served only to make them more seasoned and battle-tested for
this final championship race. The Ephs bounded off the starting
line toward the first baseball loop at a fast clip, immediately
establishing themselves as contenders for the team title. Led by
junior Macklin Chaffee, the Ephs cruised into the first woods loop
already at the head of the race.
The Ephs charged up the first long hill by Sweetwood, which was
lined with screaming fans urging the runners on. They relaxed
slightly on the flats by the high school and in the baseball field
loop. By the three-mile mark, Clayton, Stenzel, Chaffee, Van Wert,
and Aaron Schwartz were among the top dozen runners. Juniors Ben
Swimm and Brooks Udelsman were less than thirty seconds behind.
During the last two miles of the race, significant discomfort set
in to the Ephs’ legs and lungs, yet they did not waver.
Schwartz and Stenzel emerged at the top of the Sweetwood hill in
the leading positions for Williams. Digging deep into reserves
well-stocked by months of hard training, Schwartz and Stenzel
worked together during the last half-mile of the race and sprinted
to the finish within a second of each other, completing the 8K
course in 26:42 and 26:43, good for fourth and fifth places,
respectively. Clayton captured ninth in 26:51 and Chaffee was
eleventh in 26:55. Van Wert narrowly missed All-ECAC honors with
sixteenth place in 27:04. Completing the Ephs’ squad were
Udelsman and Swimm in 20th and 24th.
In a matter of minutes after crossing the finish line, the
Williams runners’ breathing returned to normal and they
embraced in celebration of their accomplishment. They received
congratulations from coaches, teammates, friends, and family. All
season long the Ephs had made conscientious, habitual deposits to
their training bank, and on this day they finally made one sizeable
and successful withdrawal.
