Rita Garber finishes third among Ivy runners at Nationals

You would think just qualifying for the NCAA Cross Country Championships would be satisfaction enough for a former walk-on. But Penn senior runner Rita Garber is not just any former walk-on -- and she didn't become one of the best runners in the nation by merely being satisfied. In Monday's NCAA Championships at the Rim Rock Farm Course in Lawrence, Kan., Garber proved she belonged with the elite runners in the country, placing 101st out of 254 qualifying runners. But as usual, she's not quite satisfied. "I was happy to be there coming from my humble beginnings," Garber said, "but I'm not completely pleased with my performance. When I crossed the finish line, I just knew I could have run faster." Her time -- 18 minutes, 16 seconds -- was fast for the hilly five-kilometer course, and she finished ahead of all but two Ivy League runners. But Garber suffered from a lack of aggression early in the race. "I ran solidly but too conservatively. I was worried too much about starting out too fast and falling apart later in the race," Garber said. The front pack traversed the first half-mile in a blistering 2:17, a pace that Garber didn't try to match. With little flat land in the course, she had trouble making up ground as efficiently as she would have liked. But just making it to nationals is a huge accomplishment, as no Penn woman had made it to the NCAA Championships in cross country since Chris Lundy in 1992. Furthermore, Garber qualified in what coach Tony Tenisci called "probably the hardest region in the nation." National champion Villanova and fourth-place Georgetown both qualified from the same region as Garber. To capture the national championship, Villanova had to hold off Brigham Young and Stanford in a close battle. The Wildcats scored 106 points, with the Cougars four points behind and the Cardinal five back. "That was just an incredible race up front," Tenisci said, "especially when you consider the fact that a 10 second difference can mean 25 places." Individually, Katie McGregor from Michigan held off Arizona's Amy Skieresz to win in a time of 16:47. Garber, meanwhile, quietly finished among the top 40 percent of a group of the most elite runners in the nation. "It's great to run in a race like that because you know everyone who was there deserved to be there," Garber said. And for the first time in her career, Garber was among those who deserved to be there. While many of the other runners were veterans of national competition, the experience was completely new to Garber. "It's an amazing feeling," Garber said. "I got caught up in the atmosphere, and when I was on the line, I said to myself, 'Oh my god, I'm running in nationals!' It really didn't hit me until then." Unfortunately, being a senior, Garber won't have another opportunity to make it to nationals in cross country, but she still has indoor and outdoor track to look forward to. "This will give her tremendous confidence for the rest of the year," Tenisci said. "Now she knows how good she can be." But no matter how good she becomes, Rita Garber will never be completely satisfied. She's gone from rags to riches, but nothing short of the Hope Diamond will be enough for her.