1 Oct 2001
Lady Lions' Roar Wakes the Nation
by David Epstein
The pitter patter of little
feet was the loudest noise for Columbia athletics this weekend
as the Lady Lions placed 11th in a field of 32 highly touted
cross-country programs at the Roy Griak Invitational held at
the University of Minnesota.
Preseason rankings, which came
out September 1, ranked the Columbia women's program as 23rd in
the country, which marked the first time in team history that
the squad received a preseason ranking. By virtue of not
racing before the Griak Invitational the team dropped two
spots to number 25, but after their performance this weekend
that placed them ahead of 3 higher ranked teams, the Lady
Lions are almost assuredly going to wake to the team's highest
ranking in the short history of the program.
Merely four years
ago the Lady Lions had never defeated a single other Ivy
League program in cross country competition, and now they are
a legitimate national caliber force. A force, also,
without a single graduating senior
to speak of.
Last year's lone
national championship individual qualifier Caitlin Hickin led
Columbia with a time of 21:26.9 over the 6 kilometer course,
good enough for 19th in a field of about 300. "This
was a big meet to run in, considering 7 out of our 9 had not
raced yet this year," she said. Columbia's powerful
showing made a statement that the young team will not be
intimidated by the perennial national powerhouses and their
hallowed harrier traditions. "This year,"
Hickin added, "I think teams are taking notice of us and
are realizing we are a legitimate team. It will be interesting
to see what we can accomplish during the rest of the
season." Indeed it will be interesting to see.
How many of the top ten women's times at Van Cortland Park can
possibly remain standing by the end of this year?
On a side note,
Hickin's time works out to roughly a blistering pace of 5:43
per mile. For all you armchair quarterbacks at home, that's no
light jog in the park, and for all you sprinters out there
that's a little under 86 second quarter-mile pace for 15
quarter-mile intervals
with 0 seconds rest.
Of course, though, in
cross country the loneliness of the long distance runner is
mitigated by the fact that the outstanding efforts of five
runners are needed for the team to rise above the competition.
On this weekend the Columbia women got just that, with
Canadian freshman Trish Nolan following Hickin in for a 30th
place finish in a time of 21:44.6. Yet, the Lady Lions
were not through there. Sophomore Melissa Stellato
lingered toward the upper sixth of the class and kept the team
spread close at the Griak Invitational with a solid 22:06.2,
placing her in 55th. Freshman Loretta Kilmer and
sophomore Alex Guerrero filled in the final two scoring spots
in places 119 and 120, with the former nipping the latter by
.4 seconds over the 6000 meter course.
Coincidentally, the
Columbia women finished one spot ahead of host team Minnesota,
unofficially claiming the course for Lady Lions everywhere. As
to their own turf, we will all have to wait and see if the
Columbia women can be kings, or queens rather, of the Van
Cortland Park jungle on October 26 at the Heptagonal
Championships. Before that, however, the team will
compete at the pre-national meet on October 13 at Furman
University, the site of this year's national championship
meet. If their current progress continues, expect the
Columbia Women to stand out at pre-nationals for more than
just the baby blue uniforms.
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Lions Survey Jungle at Griak
by David Epstein
The past weekend saw the Columbia men
attack the rolling hills and tight turns of the University of
Minnesota course at the Roy Griak Invitational. Fresh off one
of the most successful seasons in school history, the squad at
Griak may have been one of the youngest in the meet, comprised
of one senior, three juniors, one sophomore, and four
freshman, but these lions are no strangers to the big meet
atmosphere.
Returning number-one-man sophomore
Steve Sundell was the top finisher for the lions who placed
25th in the field of 36. His time of 25:13 over the five
mile course was good enough for 80th in the field of well over
300 runners. Junior John Garvie followed him in at 25:37,
finishing 135th. Needless to say, the fact that a
seperation of 24 seconds between Sundell and Garvie translated
to a gap of 55 places means that the course was jam packed
even into the chute at the end. As such, the lions' normal
strategy may have hampered them a bit at the
Griak Invitational. The lions are used to setting up
their pride toward the back of the pack and steadily moving up
in the middle stages of the race, so that by the end they are
passing people rather than struggling to hold others off.
The strategy often proves extremely effective at Van Cortland
Park where the flat first mile belies the uphill climb of
the following mile that often painfully surprises runners who
like to start at a pace well faster than what their average
mile pace for the race will be. However, with 300-plus
runners packed into the narrow course at Griak, moving through
the pack was difficult for the Columbia men who often had to
settle in for extended periods before moving forward.
"There were lots of turns and rolling hills so sometimes
it was hard to get a rhythm going," said freshman and
member of Columbia's Canadian army of runners Gerry Groothuis
who cracked the 26 minute barrier in only his first collegiate
race, placing 4th for the team.
"The course wasn't marked from
5k to 7k," said Garvie, "so you were just kind of in
a pace and then all the sudden you only have 1k to go [in the
8k course] and by then it's just too late." His
sentiments followed what seemed to be the general team
consensus: that the team performed solidly, but
unspectacularly due to the fact that such a crowded and poorly
marked course made for an enigmatic race for those runners
racing for the first time this season.
Still, as junior Pete Macchia, who
set a PR of 26:07, said, "the times were pretty decent,
people were a little surprised at the places, but if we run at
nationals it's just like that. We can run great times
but there will still be a lot of people ahead." The
meet may in fact have been very representative of what
nationals might look like as 14 of the teams who placed ahead
of Columbia were ranked in the preseason Mondo Poll.
Also, the performances of the four freshmen were very
encouraging. Pennsylvania state runner-up Karl Dusen placed
third on the team with a 25:41. Rumor has it that Karl
took a fall along with a big pack of runners early
in the race but was miraculously saved by another
runner. Thank you mystery runner from all of us here at
Columbia for saving young Karl from a spike-filled fate.
As mentioned before, freshman Gerry
Groothuis ran 4th for the team at 25:51. Freshman Will
Boylan-Pett was 6th for the team in a time of 26:00, and freshman
Scott Simpson finished in a solid 26:34. He apparently
also spiked somebody in the neck during one of the races
several multi-runner pileups. Well, at least it didn't
slow him down too much.
The lions next challenge will be the
pre-national meet at Furman University, site of this year's
national championship meet, where they will again face down
some of the premier programs in the nation.
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