Cross Country has big race with mixed results

Women qualify for Regionals though men places off

After two full months of extensive training, countless sit-ups and push ups, four scoring races, and two dual-meets with Wooster, the Yeomen and Yeowomen ran in an attempt to extend their season for another two weeks at the Conference Championships at Earlham College. The top five out of nine teams in Saturday's race qualified for Regionals at Terre Haute, IN on Nov. 22.

Both teams had been training in hopes of qualifying for Regionals. The women's team ran to a fourth-place finish Saturday to make the cut. The men's team, placed eighth with 157 points, three places too late to make the cut.

This is the race they have been training for as a team since the end of August, and individually since June.

"[The team's eighth place finish] wasn't caused by lack of effort or lack of preparation," Coach Tom Mulligan said.

The other teams simply ran faster for the most part. The College of Wooster runners, a team that competed equally with the Yeomen during their two dual-meets together, took third in the race. It was not to be the Yeomen's day.

Several Yeomen individually performed well.

Co-captain senior Harsha Thirumurthy, the first Yeomen to cross the line, placed 14th with a time of 27:41, qualifying individually for the Regional meet.

"I was not really pleased with that finish considering that it was my worst finish at Conference," Thirumurthy said. "The bottom line was I wasn't in good shape and couldn't be expecting a lot."

Thirumurthy has only been running with the team for four weeks and is still recovering from the stress fracture he has had all season.

First-year John Rogers also qualified for Regionals with a 23rd place finish. Rogers clocked in at 28:05. The top five individual runners, who were not on teams qualifying for the meet, also advanced to Regionals.

Co-captain senior Max Rankenberg improved his time on the course by over a minute and a half since the team ran the course on Oct. 4, finishing in 26th place with a time of 28:17.

After Rankenberg, first-year David Bevacqua crossed the line in 28:50, taking 41st place and sophomore Colin Fishwick came across with a time of 29:30 to take 57th.

Fishwick was especially disappointed with his finish as he didn't drop any time from his earlier race on the course.

Other runners dropped their time considerably. First-year Kristian Whitsett dropped his time by a minute and a half on the course, crossing the line in 30:08 to take 72nd place.

In their last cross country races in Oberlin uniforms, seniors James Quinn and Noah Kraut finished 76th and 89th respectively. Quinn crossed the line after running for 30:20 and Kraut after 31:39.

Sophomore Mark Sasaki finished 94th out of 97 runners with a time of 32:08.

"All season long we expected to be there at Regionals," Thirumurthy said. "We are disappointed."

Rooting the team on were spectators dressed up in Halloween costumes. Co-captain junior Rachel Sims was the only runner in costume, dressing up as a butterfly with little wings on her back.

Several Obies drove the five hours to cheer on the runners including former cross country runners Kit Wells OC '97, Darin Davies OC '96, Professor of Biology Roger Laushman and fifth-year Alex Dawe.

Each runner has different ways of handling the excitement/tension of the race. Rankenberg talked with Coach Mulligan in the middle of the night about sports and attention deficit disorders among kids as they watched the late night/early morning news.

Before the race the teams woke up at eight and had an early morning run, where, according to Rankenberg, no one talked. People were edgy all night before the race and with ten minutes left before the start of the race sophomore Colin Fishwick was "freaking out" according to Rankenberg.

The Yeowomen tried to relieve their extra tension before the race by drawing pictures on each other with face paint and permanent markers. This helped the Yeowomen stay relaxed before the race.

"The atmosphere is intense," senior Trista Thornberry said. "Other teams are psycho about it."

The race conditions were ideal, with the temperature a balmy 55 degrees and a drizzle that began thirty minutes into the men's race.

The team reminded themselves of the three key parts of their body that would help them to a fourth place finish, according to Sims. Brains were for the first part of the race, to pace themselves. The heart was for the second, to push them when "your brain tells you that you're tired." Guts are for the final part of the race when "you really are tired."

Senior Trista Thornberry and first-year Jennifer Huelsman led the Yeowomen to their goal. The pair finished in 20:16 taking 9th and 11th respectively.

Thornberry was in 25th place with a half mile to go, before entering her sprint to the finish. "It was the hardest finish of my life," Thornberry said. "I felt pretty dead at the end."

Thornberry was pushed by seeing Huelsman's jersey ahead of her. This Yeowomen team pushed each other to their goal, rather than having one or two top runners carrying the team.

The rest of the scorers followed close together. First-year Beth Spalding followed in 24th place with a time of 20:43. Nine seconds later junior China Weber crossed the line in 26th place.

Sophomore Lisa Mickley was the last Yeowomen scorer to cross the line in 34th place with a time of 21:02.

"We all had good races," Co-captain junior Rachel Sims said. "We peaked at the right time."

Sims crossed the finish ten seconds after Mickley in 41st place. Sophomore Rebecca Grossman placed 55th with a time of 21:59. Both runners improved their times significantly from the Oct. 4 meet on the same course.

Grossman, last year's NCAC rookie of the year, was in the same boat as Thirumurthy after returning from her broken toe suffered before the season began.

Co-captain junior Katy Jones finished in 59th place with a time of 22:18. First-year Ket Ashfield crossed the line at 74th place with a time of 22:52.

First-years Miriam Hellweg and Jessica Kennedy placed 84th and 87th respectively out of 97 runners.

"Our whole season is geared to making it to Regionals by doing well in Conference," Sims said. "Once we get to Regionals there is no pressure."

The women's team's top seven runners and the two men will continue training for the next two weeks, before heading out to Terre Haute, IN. on Nov. 22.