Princeton Opens 2017 Cross Country Season at Fordham Fiasco

Photo by: Princeton Athletic Communications

Princeton Opens 2017 Cross Country Season at Fordham Fiasco

September 08, 2017 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

The Princeton cross country teams begin the 2017 season this Saturday, Sept. 9 at the Fordam Fiasco in Van Cortlandt Park. The women's race will start at 9:30 a.m., followed by the men at 10 a.m.

This meet will give the Tigers a great chance to experience the course at Van Cortlandt Park, which will serve as the site of the 2017 Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in late October.

Princeton will have to replace it's top runner from last season, Alexandra Markovich and also lost Lizzie Bird, the 2016 Ivy League Heps Champion to graduation. The 2015 Ivy Heps Champion Megan Curham is back for her senior year, and although she trained with both cross country and track her competition was limited in 2016. Junior Allie Klimkiewicz is coming off of strong outdoor season, and junior Gaby Forrest ran one of the fastest 5k times outdoors. Junior Alie Fordyce, senior Melissa Reed and senior Melinda Renuart were steady scorers last year while junior Brighie Leach and sophomore Rachel Granovsky have had brilliant races as well. Six freshman join the squad but will be unable to compete on Friday due to Princeton Orientation. Princeton is ranked seventh in the Mid-Atlantic Region preseason poll.

"We look forward to returning to Van Cortlandt Park, the site of the 2017 Ivy League Cross Country Championships," Brad Hunt, head coach of the women's team said. "The middle distance crew will represent the program at the Fordham Fiasco, to gain valuable competitive experience off the track. The entire month of September is part of the building process for the championship season in October and November. No better place to kick off the season this fall, than historic Van Cortlandt Park."

The men's squad is coming off of a runner-up finish at Ivy League Heps. They return their top two runners from a year ago, William Paulson and Conor Lundy - who finished 2-3 at Heps. Both have NCAA Championship experience as Lundy qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship last fall as a freshman, while Paulson qualified for the outdoor 1500 in Eugene this past spring. Though the squad lost William Bertrand to graduation, they retain scorers Viraj Deokar and Noah Kauppila, who also excelled during track season. Gannon Willcutts and Gavin Gaynor each had quality freshman seasons to build off of and Jeremy Spiezio and Steven Sum look to get back in the top scorer positions. Seven freshman will bolster the squad, which is ranked No. 3 in the Mid-Atlantic Regional preseason poll.