Penn men’s and women’s cross country couldn’t have had more different experiences at the NCAA Regionals last year, but both teams are back and hungry this year, hoping to secure several qualifying times for placements in the NCAA Championships to follow.
Despite the rainy, cold day, the women’s team fought for an impressive third-place finish last year. Standout athletes included senior Maeve Stiles, who placed fourth in the 6k course with a championship-qualifying time; sophomore Lily Murphy, who placed 16th; junior Bronwyn Patterson; and former captain Lizzy Bader.
The Red and Blue have rode the highs of that performance into this season. While associate coach Matt Gosselin says the group is deeper and stronger than it’s ever been, he believes their best race of the season is yet to come. The Quakers’ disappointment with their fifth-place finish at the Ivy Heptagonal Championships on Oct. 28 has certainly contributed to that belief.
“We ran the race to win it,” Stiles said. “In our pursuit of that, we ended up not hitting the mark, and we put our all out there, and it hurt a lot. That last hill that we ran up was hard, and we got passed, and a lot of other teams ended up stepping up there.”
She emphasized the importance of viewing the setback as motivation and not a source of fear going into Regionals, where the squad hopes to redeem themselves.
Heps was also an emotional race given that it was the first race where all the senior members of the Quakers women's team stepped on the line together in the past four years, due to varied injuries and setbacks, and Stiles plans to carry that emotion going forward.
“Coming off of Heps, I think we’re really hungry and motivated to see a full team race,” Gosselin said. “I don't want to put all of the emphasis on what the team result ends up being, but I don't think they feel that the race at Heps was totally indicative of where this team is at. We've really kind of looked at this meet and said, 'This is where we want to be at our best, and we want to try to take a real shot at qualifying for nationals as a team.'”
Men’s cross country had a less ideal experience at NCAA Regionals last year with several top runners being injured, including juniors Dylan Throop and Will Shaughnessy, which caused the overall performance and motivation to take a hit.
This year, the Quakers are back and better than ever, with coach Steve Dolan highlighting Throop, sophomore Sahil Dodda, and junior Luke Johnson as the three lead runners of the group. No seniors will be running with them at Regionals, highlighting the uniquely young squad heading to Bethlehem, Pa.
“We all kind of got comfortable with a lot of high mileage [over the summer] compared to last year,” Throop said. “I got up to a hundred miles per week, and then most of our guys were like mid-80s and maybe got to kiss the 90s a little bit. We focused a lot on that aerobic development, and everyone was just very happy and excited about their fitness.”
Throop placed second at Heps and received first-team All-Ivy recognition. As for Dodda and Johnson, after standout performances and unexpectedly beating Dartmouth’s Albert Velikonja and Will Daley, they received second-team All-Ivy. Other team members that stepped up include freshman Rory Lieberman and junior Silas Ruth.
Despite all the varied trials and challenges leading up to this Friday, excitement is ramping up for both teams as the days count down to the qualifying meet.
On the men’s side, because of their depth, Throop expects difficulty in securing a top-two spot to qualify as a group to nationals but expects to qualify individually, as well as possibly Dodda and Johnson, and a top-five finish for Penn.
“We definitely have extremely high spirits,” Throop said. “Everyone's been coming to practice even earlier than usual and stretching, you know, doing every small thing that we can. Spirits have never been higher, and it's really exciting.”
Meanwhile, Penn women’s cross country is going into the championship seeded second — the highest the team has been in many years.
“This year, there's a lot more expectation and almost knowledge of what we could achieve and what we're capable of,” Stiles said. “Last year, we felt lucky, and it was just amazing to soak in any victory. But this year, it's like something that we feel like we can claim and that it's ours.”
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