Cross Country in NCAA Qualifiers
Ben Speicher
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It was a very productive afternoon for Trinity College's men's and women's cross country teams last Saturday, Nov. 15, at Williams College for the NCAA Division III New England Cross Country Qualifiers. The men came in third place with 143 overall points and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, their third straight appearance and fourth overall. On the women's side, the Bantams came in at a respectable 18th place out of a large field of 55 teams with 331 totals points and some solid individual performances.
Under the guidance of 2008 NESCAC Coach of the Year George Suitor, the Bantam men had some dominating individual performances in the 8,000-meter race with five runners placing in the top 100. Out of a total of 331 competitors, Trinity had runners place third, seventh, 13th, 31st, 90th, and 133rd. Senior co-captain and 2006 New England Champion Hunter Norte '09 finished third overall but first in his class with a time of 26:09.0, just 17 seconds behind the first place finisher. Freshman Michael Burnstein also finished first in his class and 13th overall, with a time 26:34.7. The other senior co-captain, Sam Moorhead, had a solid performance as well with a seventh place finish overall and a time of 26:24.4. Brendan Powers '11 was not far behind his teammates with a 31st place finish overall and a time of 27:05.8. Moorhead and Powers each took fourth in the senior and sophomore classes respectively. The Bantams came into the qualifier ranked second in the NESCAC and 15th in the country at Division III.
For their outstanding performances last weekend, Norte, Moorhead, Burnstein, and Powers all earned All-New England honors. They look to continue that success next week, as they head to Hanover, Ind. to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday, Nov. 22. With their third place finish, the men notched their seventh top-five finish and are eight for eight in top-ten finishes. This bodes well for them, as they will be competing against the 32 best teams in the country.
In the women's 6,000-meter race, senior tri-captain Allie Lemire did extremely well, boasting a 39th place finish overall and 15th in her class with a time of 24:04.7. In a field of 330 runners, Kate Barton '10 placed 79th overall and 17th among juniors with a time of 24:59.1. Giselle Harrington '10 earned the team 111 points with her time of 25:39.8, good for 25th in the junior class.
The women end a successful 2008 campaign in which they had five top-ten finishes. The team will miss their lone senior Lemire next season, but on a team of 11 with eight freshmen, the team's future looks promising. They look to regain their status as one of the elite teams in Division III and regain the glory of the 2003 team that was runner-up for the national championship only five years ago.
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