Lions in Top Ten at Cross-Country Regionals

The season has reached a close for the Columbia cross-country teams; the Lions trekked home from NCAA Northeast in Boston this past weekend with the women’s team taking sixth place and the men’s taking tenth. Although neither team received an automatic bid to nationals, senior captain Carmen Ballard qualified for an individual spot at NCAA Championships next week.

The women had a strong showing among Ivy League competitors, defeating Cornell, Yale, and Harvard. Columbia did, however, fall to Brown, a team that the women defeated at Ivy League Championships earlier in the season. Second-team All-Ivy runners senior Stephanie Lenihan and freshman Jackie Drouin followed behind Ballard, taking 18th and 34th, respectively. Juniors Kari Hidem and Megan Lessard rounded out the Lions’ pack, placing 49th and 59th.

The men’s team did not fare as well as its female counterpart; the Light Blue fell behind all the Ivy competitors in the race, including those it had beaten at Ivy League Championships. Junior Mason McElroy, freshman Thomas Poland, and sophomore James Bogner headed up the Lions, taking 41st, 44th, and 46th, respectively. No men’s runners will advance to the NCAA Championships this year.

Ballard, a two-time first-team All-Ivy League runner, has now qualified for the NCAA Championships three times. This past weekend’s race marked a personal best for Ballard, who placed fifth at NCAA Northeast with a 6K time of 20:42.50. She also managed a fourth-place finish at Ivy League Championships each of the last two years.
Ballard will toe up for nationals on Monday, Nov. 19 at Terre Haute, Ind.