Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy League Heptagonals
2 and 2: Cross Country Teams Each Place Second at Ivy League Heptagonals
October 28, 2005 | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 28, 2005
BRONX, N.Y. - It was a perfect day to run at Van Cortlandt Park Friday morning. And even though it didn't turn out perfect for the Princeton cross country teams at the 2005 Ivy League Heptagonals, the results were still awfully good.
That's because both the men's and women's teams placed second at the meet, each with outstanding low scores and each with a third-place finisher individually, continuing outstanding seasons so far heading into NCAA regionals in two weeks.
"We ran about as well as we could have," said Princeton assistant men's coach Steve Dolan. "47 is a really low score and would have won last year's meet by a lot. I couldn't be happier with our effort."
Frank Macreery was the third-place finisher for the Tigers, running the 8,000 meters in 24:39.4, just three seconds behind race winner Ben True of Dartmouth. Right behind Macreery was sophomore David Nightingale, who was fifth in 24:44.4, while Ben Stern's 25:06.3 was good for 10th place.
All five Princeton scorers finished in the top 16. Justin Pines was 13th in 25:13, while Frank Tinney, who missed much of the season due to injury, was 16th in 25:17.
Dartmouth had all five of its scorers in the top 12 to finish with 30 points. Both the Tigers and the Big Green were far ahead of third-place Brown.
On the women's side, the expected battles happened both on the team side and in the individual race. Princeton's Cack Ferrell, Columbia's Caroline Bierbaum, Yale's Lindsay Donaldson and Harvard's Lindsey Scherf were all considered potential winners, and the Tigers were considered challengers to the Lions in the team competition. Ferrell went to the lead early and eventually found herself in a four-way duel with Bierbaum, Donaldson and Columbia's Lisa Stublic. The final straightaway resulted in a third-place finish for the Princeton senior, but her time of 17:08.1 over the 5,000 meters still broke the previous Heps record at Van Cortlandt Park.
Thanks to a ninth-place finish by Catha Mullen (17:37.8) and an 11th-place finish from Mia Swenson (17:51.0), the Tigers finished with 65 points, just 14 behind race-winner Columbia. Bierbaum's time of 17:01.4 won the race.
"It's a really tactical race when you run here and we set ourselves up nicely today," said Princeton coach Peter Farrell. "Everyone ran a very good race to give us a chance to win."
Freshman Jolee van Leuven gave the Tigers four runners in the top 20, finishing 15th in 18:03, while Caroline Mullen, Catha's sister, finished 27th in 18:18.
Complete race results are available at http://www.plattsys.com/results/res2005/heps05.htm