The Yale men and women’s cross country teams were at it again, capturing seventh and 10th place respectively at NCAA Division I Northeast Regional Championships.
The race, hosted at the 1,146-acre Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx borough of New York City, boasted an extremely competitive field of runners from both within and outside of the Ivy League.
The Eli women finished with 270 points thanks to strong performances from the top women, which helped power the team through as they bested Harvard, who finished in 11th place with 283 points. All-Ivy first team runner, Kira Garry ’15, led the women with her 11th place individual finish with a time of 20:03.03 in the 6k. Garry’s result was also the best individual performance from a Yale woman since 2011.
The women also had key performances from its young base. Elizabeth McDonald ’16 captured 53rd with a time of 21:31.31. Closely following behind her was Dana Klein ’18 in 55th place with a time of 21:33.41.
Emily Waligurski ’17, Emily Stark ’16 and Kelli Reagan ’18 rounded out the Eli women, finishing in 75th, 76th and 77th place, respectively, with times of 21:48.80, 21:48.84 and 21:48.99. That all three runners finished within one second of one another demonstrated the depth of the women’s squad. “All season we have been working on training and racing with a strong pack mentality, and I think we all finally raced with that mentality, staying in contact, pulling each other along at the hard parts, and finishing within milliseconds of each other,” said Emily Waligurski ’17.
Like the women, the Bulldog men also had a successful stint at the championships. The Eli men finished with 200 points, matching their seventh place result from last year’s regional championships. The competition was stiff, and Columbia, Cornell and Harvard all bested the Bulldogs.
The men showed their depth with a lot of young members running extremely well in the 10k. James Randon ’17 placed 27th with a time of 31:06.2, Duncan Tomlin ’16 followed close behind with a 35th place finish in 31:17.3, and Cameron Stanish ’18 finished fourth for the men with a 57th place finish and 31:36.7 time.
Many times across the board were slower due to a variety of factors.
“The conditions were slight damp but cold,” said Randon ’17. “It felt like it was just above freezing with a fair amount of wind.”
Like the women, the men’s own All-Ivy First Team runner, Kevin Dooney ’16, led the team. Dooney was the brightest spot for Yale as he finished the race with a historic third place finish, which was the highest result from a Yale runner at the Division I tournament since Lucas Meyer ’05.
For the majority of the Bulldog runners, the Division I NCAA Northeast Championships marks the culmination of a season’s success, hard work and effort. However, Garry and Dooney’s exceptional running will lead them to Terre Haute, Indiana. There, the Eli standouts will compete at the selective NCAA Cross Country Championships, reserved for the most elite college runners.