Harvard Readies for ECAC/IC4As and NCAA Championships

Photo of the men's start at the H-Y meet courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications.

Storyline
The Harvard men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the final races of the 2009 fall season this weekend.

Harvard will compete at the ECAC/IC4A Championships Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City, while junior Daniel Chenoweth, sophomore Kailyn Kuzmuk and junior Claire Richardson head to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Championships Monday, Nov. 23.

NCAA Championships
The 2009 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships will be held in Terre Haute, Ind., on the Indiana State University LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. This marks seven out of the past eight years that the NCAA Championships have been held in Terre
Haute.

Harvard has had a runner competing at the NCAA Championships in five out of the last six years. At Last year’s NCAA’s, Daniel Chenoweth finished 42nd out of 252, earning the best finish by a Crimson runner since 1995.

On the women’s side, Claire Richardson finished 144th out of 252 with a time of 21:32.7.

Watch from Home
The NCAA Championships will air live on Versus (check your local cable company) and be streamed on the internet at NCAA.com.

ECAC/IC4A Championships
At the 2008 IC4A Championships, held at Van Cortland Park in N.Y., the Crimson men finished 11th overall out of 15 teams. Dan Stiles was the top finisher for Harvard at the event, finishing 38th out of 125. Ryan Neely and Stephen Couch finished 46th and 47th, respectively.

On the women’s side, Harvard had an excellent showing in the 2008 ECAC Championships by finishing second out of 11 teams behind Cornell. Nicole Cochran won the 5k race and was followed by Jamie Olson and Kailyn Kuzmuk, who finished 11th and 16th, respectively.

Last Time Out
Daniel Chenoweth was Harvard’s highest finisher at the 2009 NCAA Regionals at Franklin Park, placing third overall at 31:03 to help the men to a 10th-place team finish. In the field of 244 runners in the 10k race, rookie Jeremy Gilmour finished in 44th place. Junior Ryan Neely, sophomores Michael Hoffman and Ben Enowitz rounded out Harvard’s first five across the finish line.

Kailyn Kuzmuk and Claire Richardson finished sixth and eighth, respectively, as the Crimson women finished fifth overall in their 6k event. The two clocked in three seconds apart, at 22:25 and 22:28, respectively. Freshman Sammy Silva placed 11th and sophomore Jamie Olson 30th out of 243 competitors.

More Awards
Chenoweth, Kuzmuk, Richardson and Silva earned USTFCCCA Northeast All-Region for their top 25 finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional. It’s the second straight all-region awards for Chenoweth and Richardson.