Both the men and women’s cross country team traveled to the University of Rochester this past weekend for the UAA championships.
Ed Colvin ’14 earned his first career All-UAA honors, finishing in ninth place out of 78 competitors to gain second-team honors. Colvin, who burst onto the scene, winning the 2010 UAA Rookie of the Year award, finished the eight-kilometer course in 25:30.8 seconds, just four seconds outside of first-team UAA honors. Colvin showed remarkable improvement, taking a full minute and five seconds off his time from the previous year, vaulting him 12 spots ahead in the standings.
Colvin had gone into the race hoping to earn All-UAA honors so he was pleased with the result. “It’s a really small field compared to other races but it’s one of the most competitive fields,” he said.
“You have to get out there with the top guys or you’ll get left behind and I was able to get out in third place.”
While the sport is driven by individual times, Colvin stressed that the team does not focus on their times during the race.
“In most of our meets time isn’t really an issue, it’s place. It’s really more about knowing which guys you want to be up with and then match their pace,” he said.
Alex Kramer ’13 finished in 33rd place, dropping 11 places from the previous year even though he was able to shave 30 seconds off his 2011 time of 26:10.09.
Michael Rosenbach ’15 improved 20 spots from his rookie season, placing 46th with a time of 26:30.05, while classmate Jarrett Harrigan ’15 finished in 51st place, jumping 24 spots in the standings from the past year, with a time of 26:36.5.
Mik Kern ’13 rounded out the scoring for the Judges, finishing in 69th place with a time of 27:24.6 seconds.
On the women’s side, Victoria Sanford ’14 paced the Judges, finishing the six-kilometer course in 23:01.2 to finish in 21st place out of 77 competitors. Sanford had a sensational improvement in her performance, trimming more than two full minutes off her time from the past year to jump 40 spots in the standings. Her time was roughly 11 seconds shy of earning All-UAA honors.
Amelia Lundkvist ’14 came in 29th place for the Judges with a time of 23:14.6. Lundkvist was unable to compete last year but improved dramatically on her performance from her rookie season.
Ali Kirsch ’14, who was the Judges best UAA performer the previous year, dropped four spots to 43rd place even though she shaved her time by over two and a half minutes.
Maggie Hensel ’16 came in 58th place in her first collegiate championship meet with a time of 24:22.3, while graduate student Erin Bisceglia finished in 65th place with a time of 24:55.6.
Both the men and women’s squads finished in eighth place in a hyper-competitive field with some of the elite programs in all of Division III. The men finished with 186 total points, just 30 behind Emory for seventh place, while the women finished with 193 points, 66 points behind Emory for seventh place.
Colvin emphasized the difference of a smaller race compared to a larger race. In a smaller race, “It makes the beginning a little less stressful.” But in a larger race, “If you don’t get out in front, the entire field swallows you up. Then if you hit a thin patch you just get stuck and the leaders get too far out ahead.”
Both squads will return to action on Nov. 10th when they travel to Westfield State University for the NCAA Division III New England regional championship.
