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Volume CXXXII, Number 4 |
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XC Diary
CONOR O'BRIEN & TODD FORSGREN
STAFF WRITERS
During the harvest moon of the year 2002 AD, the Men's Cross Country team made its annual pilgrimage to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx of New York. But this year was different than those preceding it.
In the past, the team crusaded against the lesser powers of Division III Cross Country. But having conquered near and far in the realm of Division III, the team went in search of greater challenges: the beasts that lay in Division I.
It was a hard fought battle. For the first mile, the throng of the fight was thick, and the team suffered many casualties. Sophomore Ben Peisch defended the black and white as gallantly as St. Michael at the pearly gates, stepping down to no one.
I mean, man, he really popped some punk from the University of Buffalo - a good one, right in the face. Seniors Jeff Rubens and Pat Vardaro led the first stage of the crusade, fighting through the crowd for a searing 4:57 opening mile. It was at this point that Scott Barbuto took the helm and cut through DI flesh like Moses through the Red Sea, making frequent use of his wily elbows.
From there the course headed into the hilly jungle nether regions of Van Cortlandt Park. Freshman Andrew "Puffy" Comb's golden locks and blazing soles lit up this dark land, as he showed his natural affinity to follow the strategy employed by the bears: to bury their enemies, whose life force had been foolishly wasted in the early running, during the later miles of the race.
The race ended with a long run through a gauntlet of jeering onlookers. Scott "Intesity" Barbuto was the first Bowdoin finisher, with a time of 26:10. He was followed by fellow seniors Jeff "Ditka" Rubens, Pat "Women's Suffrage" Vardaro and Todd "Love in the time of cholera" Forsgren with the times of 26:46, 26:50 and 26:59 respectively. Ben "Dirty batch" Peisch rounded out the scoring five. While Scott "Batman" Herrick passed twenty most stout men DI had to offer to claim sixth place for the team. Conor "I'm a" Savage O'Brien finished in seventh for the bears.
They left the field of battle as the 16th team out of the 29 teams present. A bunch of people got to enrich their education after the race by tasting the fruits that New York has to offer. But some people just went to plays and museums and stuff instead.
The bus smelled like a dirty stable all the way home, we think it was Peisch's fault. But Forsgren is not above suspicion either.