Women's Cross Country 14th at NCAA National Championships
The Williams women’s cross country team finished 14th at
the NCAA national championships at St. Olaf College in Northfield,
Minnesota. Led by sophomore Olga Kondratjeva, who captured 58th
place, the Ephs were the third NESCAC team with 390 points. Amherst
won the team title by placing four in the top 35 and scoring 120
points.
The harriers awoke this morning to a light snow and chilly breeze.
The conditions were more than familiar to the Ephs, who train
year-round through the frigid Williamstown winters. Opposing
emotions of excitement and nervousness built steadily throughout
the morning during breakfast, the short van ride to the course, and
the warm-up jog. For senior captains Lissy Robie and Liz Gleason,
this race would mark the culmination of their collegiate cross
country careers. Both athletes had performed well on the national
stage before, but this event offered fresh challenges and fierce
competition.
The women’s 6K course began on soccer practice fields and at
approximately 1 km entered a rolling woods loop around a small
pond. Then the athletes traversed the soccer fields again before
entering a quiet nature preserve where no spectators were allowed.
Next came another woods loop featuring a sizeable hill, the nature
preserve once more, and finally the last curve and short uphill to
the finishing straightaway. The course was flatter than most of the
Ephs’ regular training runs and would compel them to utilize
fast turnover and a smooth stride rather than their
mountain-climbing strength.
When the starting gun fired at 11:00 AM central time, the Ephs
bounded off the line a little too conservatively. “Due to
at-large bids, there are now 32 teams at nationals,” head
coach Pete Farwell remarked. “With so many talented athletes,
it’s a delicate balance between going out with the leaders
and saving energy for the latter part of the race. Unfortunately,
our runners didn’t get out quite as well as we had
hoped.” To make matters more complicated, a few runners fell
down around the Ephs during the first 800 meters, preventing them
from attaining a good position in the pack.
Despite the early-race mishaps, the Ephs recovered and moved up
significantly. Robie led the Ephs for much of the race, gritting
out a gutsy race and never forgetting her goals in the herd of
national caliber runners. Kondratjeva gained tens of places over
the course of the event, eventually passing Robie and sprinting to
the finish in a time of 22:36. Robie was behind by only thirty
seconds but nearly 30 places in 95th. Junior Lauren Philbrook
finished right on Robie’s heels in the same time and just two
places back. Gleason continued her season-long improvement by
finishing 146th in 23:17. She was followed by sophomore Moira Yoe
in 161st and a time of 23:22, junior Rachel Asher (179th in 23:28),
and sophomore Elly Teitsworth, who began the race at the back of
the field and used her characteristic finishing kick to secure
182nd place in 23:29.
Immediately after the race, the runners exchanged stories and
embraced in a communal feeling of accomplishment. Although the team
had hoped for a higher placing, everyone agreed that their
performance was nothing to scoff at. “Things didn’t
quite go our way--Rachel had a bit of an off day, and Olga’s
still a novice at cross country,” Farwell noted, “but
we still finished in the top half of this national-caliber
field.”
For the underclassmen, this national championship was an event to
cherish and provide a foundation for next year’s season. For
the seniors, this last bout of collegiate competition will be
remembered for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, the spectators
could only smile in amazement at this impressive show of
competitive spirit and athletic prowess.
