Cross Country

As the coaching staff ushered waves of first-years onto the Columbia cross-country scene, optimism ruled the pre-season for the men's and women's teams.

At the end of the season, the women's team had qualified for the National Champtionships as one of 13 at-large bids, and cruised into a 25th place finish and their first slot ever in the season-ending national poll. The men ended the season with a third-place finish at the Heptagonal Championships in October, but fell just short of an invite to the National Championships in November.

Earlier in the season, the Lions won their third straight Metropolitan Championship, and came in 18th at pre-National Championships at Iowa State.

In one of the most anticipated races of the season, the women finished third at the Heptagonal Championships behind nationally ranked Yale and Brown. First-year Caitlin Hickin continued her successes, earning All-Ivy honors, while sophomore Lauren Harrison garnered second-team All-Ivy status.

To finish the regular season, the women raced to fifth place at Regionals to qualify for Nationals.

Based strictly on statistics, the men's season was not as successful as the women's. With surprisingly fast first-year Steve Sundell leading the way, however, the men raced to the brink of the National Championships.

Holding some of their starters back for a few races, the Lions' first full-tilt race was at Metropolitan Championship, where they failed to win for the first time in four years.

At Pre-Nationals, the Light Blue finished 26th out of 53 teams, highlighted by Sundell's 14th place finish, the highest ever for a first-year.

At the culmination of their season, the Lion men matched the women by finishing behind Dartmouth and Princeton at Heptagonals.