W.X-C leaves NCAA Regionals unsatisfied with performance

They crossed seven mountains. It was cold. There were 3 inches of snow on the ground. They still ran. This weekend, the Quakers made their last team appearance of the season at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships hosted by Penn State. Even with considerably heightened competition times, because of severe weather conditions, the team still managed to place 10th overall in a field of 26 teams. Last Saturday, Penn lost to teams that they had fallen to earlier in the season -- Georgetown, Princeton, Navy and Mount St. Mary's. The Quakers were also edged out by local competition, St. Joseph's, a team they had defeated at the beginning of the season at the Fordham Fiasco. Last weekend's pack was lead by two Villanova runners, junior Carrie Tollefson and sophomore Carmen Douma, who placed first and second, respectively. Tollefson's winning time of 18 minutes, 2.60 seconds was more than 16 seconds better than her teammate's second-place finish and over 34 seconds off the top point scorer. Because they were running individually -- not having the necessary five competitors needed for a team -- Villanova's runners were unable to be scored. "The Villanova girls had run the course a couple weeks earlier and their times were significantly faster when they ran it two weeks earlier," senior Kristen Gregory said. "So even their times were slow for them." Penn earned 320 points through its top five runners, 60 points off ninth-place Rutgers. The eventual winner, Georgetown earned its victory with a mere 64 points, after it placed the top scorer in the race, junior Kate Landau (18:36.07), who finished in third behind the two Villanova harriers. Junior Rita Garber, Penn's top runner for the entire season, placed 29th overall (19:53.77). The weather had a considerable effect on the team's times. Garber's came in with her slowest time of the season, varying over 1:20 off her best and more than 50 seconds off her worst time of the season. The entire team seemed to be brought down by the weekend weather conditions, with all runners slowing their race considerably. In comparison to last month's Heptagonals, this week's Quakers point scores averaged an extra 61 seconds per runner. "The main focus of our season was really the Heps, which was two weekends ago, so we were all looking to improve our times and compete well," Gregory said. A surprising, and rather costly drop, was in the position of captain Kristen Duyck (20:50.48). Duyck has consistently placed second on the team behind Garber, but her gain of 93 seconds this weekend, in comparison to Heps, dropped her to the fourth position on the team -- still in scoring position, but 81st overall. Filling in for her fellow senior, Gregory (20:25.1) came in second for the team, earning 54 points. Two freshmen rounded out the point scorers, Jessica Hulse (20:33.05 -- 62nd) and Meredith Rossner (21:10.40 -- 102nd). "All the times were really slow, for all runners, but place wise we did well so we were happy with our performance," Gregory said. Overall, though the season did end on a rather chilly note, the women were pleased with the results they will now merely look back on.