At NCAA Division III Regional Cross Country Championships, there are close to 400 athletes standing at the starting line. The official raises his hand slowly. Pointing the gun into the air, he shoots. The runners storm forward. And the audience cheers. The ground shakes beneath their feet. Once a majority of the competitors have passed, the fans, too, take flight. They sprint. Organizing themselves along the entire course, the spectators will try to place themselves in the most advantageous position. Usually, the course will overlap or cross itself. These overlaps are ideal because they allow spectators to watch the runners throughout the race, rather than at one moment in a 25-minute period. Frequently, before the race begins, fans will consult a map to scout ideal viewing location.
For the NCAA DIII New England Championship, every DIII school in the region sent between one and seven of their top runners. These runners competed for both themselves and their school teams. Top teams ultimately qualified for nationals. 28 teams from across the U.S. will go on to compete in nationals; two from each New England region automatically qualify. Because New England is such a competitive region, between five and six teams progress to nationals. If an individual competitor races better than his or her teammates, he or she is still given an opportunity to compete at the national level in the individual’s race. There are usually between 30-35 runners who qualify for the individual’s race; however, because most top runners represent equally competitive teams, only ten runners typically advance without their teams.
Connecticut College did very well in this race. In the Men’s race, the Camels placed ninth out of 55 full teams and three incomplete teams. The Men’s race is eight kilometers, about 5 miles. For the Conn team, Niall Williams ’16 came in first, with a time of 25:35. Following Williams was Connor Trapp ’18 (25:51), Kyle Hawk ’19 (25:52), Price Day ’19 (25:59), Ben Bosworth ’17 (26:11), Jordan Comeau ’18 (26:47) and Zander Mintz ’17 (26:49).
In the Women’s race, Conn came in tenth out of 60 teams. The Women’s race is six kilometers. Placing first was Ashley Curran ’17 with a speedy time of 21:51. Following her were Alex Fromme ’18 (22:30), Emily Winter ’16 (23:00), Isabella Franz ’17 (23:11), Nicole Adam ’16 (23:56), Grace Sheeran ’18 (23:58) and Sabina Flandrick ’17 (24:16).
Weather is an extremely important factor in understanding cross country race times. Running into the wind or having the wind at one’s back can drastically change one’s time. Moisture is also a determining factor because it makes the ground more slippery. Most competitive runners wear spikes on their shoes to minimize the weather’s effects on their times. The runners were fortunate that the course was not muddy, but the wind was brutal. As the race was in Harkness Memorial Park, the wind rushed in off the Long Island Sound. The Women’s race, earlier in the day, was less windy, but, going into the afternoon, the wind picked up significantly, causing the Men’s expected times to rise.
Cross country is scored based on time, or the lack thereof. As runners come across the finish line, they are ranked based on how fast they finished. The placement of the first five runners are added, and the team with the lowest cumulative score wins the race. If there is a tie, the sixth and seventh runners’ scores are the tiebreakers. But ranking also corresponds with the time. For example, in the Men’s race, Williams College’s team placed first with a total score of 67 and with an additional 90-point tiebreaker. The team’s cumulative time was 125:22.5. Connecticut College’s team score was 273 with an additional 227 points. Our cumulative time was 129:30.8. Because there were so many runners and it was a very competitive race, the time difference between the first team and the ninth team is only four minutes and eight seconds.
Curran went on to represent Connecticut College at the NCAA Division III Championship race in Wisconsin. Curran finished the race with a time of 22:37, placing 140th to split the field of 280 runners.
