The Columbia cross-country teams have been sharpening their racing spikes as the fall gets underway. This season provides unique challenges for the Lions, who will not only face the Ivy League, but also some of their own runners competing in different colors.
The men’s team welcomes 16 new athletes this season. The new group boasts a large distance contingent, as well as some key middle-distance runners. The women’s squad has also added to its roster with 15 first-years. The increased depth of both teams will be a strong factor not only in the cross-country season, which has been a consistent strength for the Lions, but also in the track-and-field seasons. Three of the new additions to the women’s team are fielders who will be key contributors to an area of the Lions’ arsenal that has been weak in the past. Other Ivy League competitors, most notably Cornell, possess a depth in the field event category that has helped them clinch league titles.
The returning Lions will head up the season as the team looks to improve upon last year’s performances. The men’s team came a close fourth at last year’s Heptagonal Championships, losing to Penn by only seven points. Seniors Ryan Hays and Jeff Randall, along with junior James Bogner and sophomores Dustin Martin and Tom Poland, are expected to provide solid results for the men’s team. Last season, Hays won the Ram Invitational, and Bogner was the Lions’ top finisher at Ivy League championships and earned second team All-Ivy honors.
The women’s team took second at last year’s Heps to Princeton, which maintained a large lead on the Light Blue. Yet a strong contingent of veteran athletes will assist the Lions in closing in on the Tigers. Seniors Megan Lessard, Alaina Miller, and Kari Higdem, along with junior Irena Ossola and sophomore Jackie Drouin, will lead the women’s team. Drouin was Columbia’s top finisher at last year’s league championships, earning second team All-Ivy honors.
Yet while the Light Blue is set to hone the skills of its newer athletes, it must also grapple with the losses of some of its strongest runners. Eight seniors graduated this past year, including powerhouses Liam Boylan-Pett, Carmen Ballard, Jonah Rathbun, and Stephanie Lenihan. While at Columbia, Boylan-Pett anchored the 4x800-meter relay team that won the Championship of America race at Penn Relays and was an outstanding track-and-field athlete. Ballard had earned three trips to NCAA Championships, and at the end of her final cross-country season earned All-American honors by placing 23rd overall.
Yet while the void left by these athletes is sure to be great, Boylan-Pett and Ballard will be on the track with the Lions, but this season as competitors. The two runners, along with mid-distance runner Erika Moses, will be joining the ranks of the Hoyas as Georgetown graduate students. All three runners have a final year of eligibility, but as the Ivy League will not allow students to take a fifth year of study, the trio will head to D.C. Georgetown already has a strong running program, having placed 13th in the men’s race and 28th in the women’s race at NCAA Cross Country Championships last fall. The addition of these three runners is sure to only strengthen its arsenal.
The Light Blue’s first meet will be the Spiked Shoe Invitational at Penn State next weekend. The men will be returning champions, while the women will be looking to up their silver performance to a win.
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