Cross-Country Sets Its Sights on Qualifying for Nationals

The finish line is in sight for the Columbia cross-country teams.

After the women pocketed a silver medal at the Ivy League championships and the men took fourth place, the Lions have the experience and opportunity to focus on achieving what has been their end game: making it to Nationals. Saturday’s NCAA Northeast Regional qualifier will prove to be a tough meet for the Light Blue as it attempts to recreate its past NCAA successes.

The Lions, with the women placing fourth and the men taking fifth at last year’s NCAA Northeast, did not advance to the NCAA Championships in 2006. Last season marked the first occasion in four years that the women’s team did not secure an automatic bid to the championship meet.

The women, currently ranked third in a Northeast poll, will be lining up against stiff competition on Saturday, most notably Princeton and Boston College, ranked first and second, respectively. The Lions lost to the Tigers at the Ivy League championships by a large margin, and Boston College boasts both the title of reigning NCAA Northeast champion as well as home-course advantage. The Eagles also have two all-conference runners, while the Tigers have two first team All-Ivy athletes.

The men’s team will have to step up its performance to have any chance of advancing to Nationals. Currently ranked fifth in the Northeast, right behind Cornell, the Light Blue will need to first take on the Big Red, a team that defeated the Lions by a 41-point margin at the Ivy League championships, and then sweep Syracuse, a squad whose average time at NCAA Pre-Nationals trumps that of Columbia.

Although the presence of All-Ivy runners Carmen Ballard, Jackie Drouin, Stephanie Lenihan, and James Bogner will give the Light Blue some help as they toe up at NCAA Regionals, the race to Terre Haute, Ind. will be harder for the Lions than ever before.