W. X-Country finishes second at Princeton

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Perhaps it was an omen when senior Jane Kim discovered she had packed two left running shoes for Friday's women's cross country meet at Princeton. But it was Princeton's Tonya Baker, not the shoes, that did the damage as the Tigers blew away the Quakers. Princeton tallied 20 points, besting Penn, which finished with 40. Rutgers finished third with 81, Columbia fourth with 109. While Rutgers and Columbia came in with weak squads, Quaker coach Betty Costanza expected a strong showing from Princeton, which remains the favorite to take the Ivy League title, despite losing all-American Kristin Beaney and NCAA-qualifier Laura Schloss to graduation. "They've always been stronger than us in the distance events," Costanza said. The course, featuring small rolling hills without any real steep inclines, should have made the Quaker runners -- most of whom come from track backgrounds -- feel more at home than the traditional uphill cross country courses. Based on this, and the strong showing of co-captains Maggie Morrow and Bridget Ward last weekend, Costanza was confident Penn could win the meet. She called the duel with Princeton "pretty even." However, after Princeton placed four runners in the top five, "even" hardly seems like the right word to use. Going into the meet, the coaching staff stressed the runners had to stay in a pack, "five people trying to be on," as assistant coach Tony Tenisci described it. The Quakers all but conceded first place to Baker (who finished with a winning time of 18 minutes, 18.80 seconds) going into the meet. So they tried to get the women to stay together in order to load up on the other top five places. But the pack spread out by the first mile. "We should have had three runners in behind their number one," Costanza said. "As far as our three guns [Morrow, and seniors Jenee Anzelone and Caitlin Riley], they did nothing." There was a glimmer of hope amid the disappointment. Sophomore Michelle Belsley, a track half-miler, who is running cross country for the first time and is coming off a major injury, was a huge question mark coming into the season. But Belsley ran an impressive race, staying with Baker and Princeton's Wendy Guttshall (18:36.16) from the start. Her third-place time of 18:38.88 complimented last weekend's overall fifth-place finish. Costanza and Tenisci were also quick to praise the freshmen runners who put up impressive times. Assistant coach Cricket Batz Shaklee noted that Kristen Duyck, Christine Stavalone and Kirsten Gregory, who all finished under 20:17.00, could cause waves in the Ivy League in the future. Despite easily beating both Rutgers and Columbia, the Quakers returned to West Philly feeling empty. Costanza felt the loss to Princeton was a mental loss, not a physical one. The Quakers need to "get mentally tougher," as Costanza put it, if they are to reach the upper-echelon of the Ivy League cross country rankings. "This race was not indicative of our ability," Costanza said.