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Volume CXXXIII, Number 9 |
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Runners love the hills and distance
ALLIE YANIKOSKI
STAFF WRITER
Four determined members of the Bowdoin Women's Cross Country Team braved the cold and wind last Saturday traveling down to the ECAC meet, hosted by Tufts, for one final race.
The ECAC race was the first 6K this season - a challenging 3.76 miles, as opposed to the standard 3.1-mile 5K race - and the women adjusted admirably.
"It was a great last race of the season," said co-captain Chelsea Spector '04. "Everyone went out there and gave it everything they had."
Spector led the Bowdoin pack along the hilly course, finishing in 72nd place out of 240, in 25:33.
"Chelsea had an awesome race," said Alix Roy '07. "She's worked so hard this season and I think a lot of it has gone unnoticed. She's a really good runner and she gave it her all on this last race of her college career."
"I especially admire Chelsea [because] it was her last race for Bowdoin. She did amazingly and coming in first for the team," said Claire Discenza '05. "She has gotten so fast over the course of the season - her improvement shows how much work she puts into cross country. I will miss running with her, and I hope she keeps it up because she is so good."
A mere three seconds behind Spector, Jill Schweitzer '06 crossed the line in 76th place. Her time of 25:26 equates approximately to a 21:20 5k race, which is her best Bowdoin time. Third for the Bowdoin women, Roy finished with a time of 25:51 in 89th place overall.
"Our strategy was to not go out too fast in the beginning, especially since this was a [longer] course with a lot of hills," said Roy. "During the race we didn't really work together that much to be honest. I work off Chelsea a lot, [and on Saturday] I was in sight of her the whole time. Throughout this season she's been a major help for me."
"Although we didn't really have a set strategy, we worked together a lot in the race," says Spector. "It was really great knowing that Jill and Alix were close to me the entire time."
Despite not running together, the women stayed close to each other throughout the race. Discenza finished shortly after Roy, 104th place overall in 26:23.
"Claire probably had the most fun of all of us," said Roy. "After the race she was talking about how much fun she had - she definitely had the right spirit."
"All the girls did so well!" says Discenza. "Chelsea, Alix, and Jill all had better splits than they have had all season, even though the course was so hilly and long. Although the course was difficult, there was a lot of mud, and it was freezing, I had so much fun running with them. I felt so much stronger than I have for the past few races, and I was able to push myself even harder at the end than I usually do."
Despite running on a course that only one of them had raced previously, over a significantly longer distance than usual, all four of the Bowdoin women finished in the top 40th percentile of the field.
Tomorrow, Spector, Schweitzer, Roy, and Discenza will join the rest of their team in Cumberland to cheer on the top seven men and women at the New England Division III meet, the qualifying meet for the NCAA Championships.
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