NESCAC Preview
Photo Credit: Blake Rogers
This Halloween, while kids enjoy trick-or-treating across the country, something much spookier will occur at Wickham Park. The Trinity College home course in Hartford, Connecticut will host the NESCAC Championships for the first time since 2009. Eleven teams from five states will converge on the course for the start of their post-season races. The Trinity course will likely be the most difficult these runners have seen all season. It’s most comparable to the Pineland Farms course in Maine — with rolling hills and consistent elevation change as runners complete a series of loops.
Women’s Championship
On the women’s side, junior Danielle Page of Tufts University is the favorite to win the individual title. Page has been dominant all year, and has yet to lose to a D3 runner. She has maintained a large margin of victory over her fellow NESCAC runners and looks to continue the trend. Sophomore Genna Girard of Williams has placed 2nd to Page two races in a row, and will be the favorite to finish runner-up. Girard looks to lead a talented Williams squad to another NESCAC title. Chasing her is junior Cassie Kearney of Middlebury. Kearney finished 3rd to Page and Girard in the last two races of the year. If history chooses to repeat itself, they could go 1-2-3 for the third meet in a row. Page’s teammate, sophomore Meghan Davis, is likely to find herself in the top five as she was the 4th NESCAC runner at both the Conn College Invite and the Purple Classic. Also looking to crack the top 5 are Sidnie Kulik of Amherst and Jillian Richardson of Bates.
In the team battle, Williams appears as a clear favorite. Their No. 5 rank in D3GD rankings, and consistent wins over NESCAC teams, show their strength and depth. Their front three of Genna Girard, Ella Ball and Lawler Madeline will look to finish as All-NESCAC runners and lead the Ephs to a team title. After Williams, the team battle is extremely close. No. 11 Tufts, No. 15 Bates, No. 16 Middlebury, and No. 17 Amherst could all finish in the top 3 at Wickham Park. At the Conn College Invite, their team scores were separated by only 49 points. Tufts low-stick runners Page and Davis will likely lead the Jumbos to a runner-up finish. Jillian Richardson leads the Bates squad that is sitting just behind Tufts in the national rankings. They’ll look to repeat their perofrmance from earlier in the year when they took down Tufts in a small meet setting. Bates has the potential for an upset, and with Wickham Park similar to their Pineland Farms home course, it could very well happen.
Middlebury finished 5th at the Conn Coll Invite, and Cassie Kearney looks to lead the team to a top-3 finish. Middlebury is more than capable of equaling or improving their 2019 performance at NESCAC. No. 17 Amherst beat nationally-ranked teams like Carnegie Mellon at Paul Short, but finished just behind Bates and Middlebury at Harkness State Park. Sidnie Kulik of Amherst will look to lead the Mammoths back into a top-15 national ranking as well as a top-3 finish at NESCAC. Finally, Wesleyan University is another team capable of mixing up the race.
Men’s Championship
The men’s individual battle should see a group of seven runners break away from the main pack, but one is likely to take the win uncontested. Senior Aidan Ryan of Williams College, with an 8k PR of 23:52, is well ahead of the rest of the field. The chase pack will likely consist of two of Ryan’s teammates, junior Elias Lindgren and first-year Graham Tuohy-Gaydos who both ran sub-25 at the Connecticut College Invite. Battling with this pair will be the familiar faces from Connecticut College, Jeffery Love and Matt Carter. The junior duo have both broken 24:40 this year, and finished top-5 at the competitive Conn College Invite.
Love looks primed for a big race after beating Lindgren in the last 400 meters at Conn College. Matt Carter also has a great kick to end races, and could track down some runners up the final hill. One runner that is flying under the radar is Colby College’s Tyler Morris. Morris has gone undefeated this year with an average margin of victory of over a minute. He broke 25 minutes and the course record at Bates College, but has yet to face off against the caliber of individuals like Aidan Ryan and Elias Lindgren. Last, but certainly not least, is Trinity’s Travis Martin. Martin’s 3:47 1500m PR, as well as recent sub-25 8k, shows his finishing potential. If the race comes down to a final kick, Martin could certainly do some damage on his home course.
In the men’s team battle Williams College is the clear favorite. Their duo of Ryan and Lindgren is backed by Graham Tuohy-Gaydos, John Lucey, and William Spollen who have all broken 25:05 this year. Ranked No. 2 in the country, Williams will look to win with as many as five All-NESCAC runners. Following them is No. 14 ranked Middlebury who placed 3rd at the Conn College Invite. Middlebury does not have a clear front runner, and their top-five scorers tend to be interchangeable. But this pack-running mentality has worked well for the squad of Zander Kessler, Quin McGaugh, Drew Donahue, Alec Gironda, and Max Cluss.
Following Middlebury are five teams capable of finishing in the top three. Connecticut College is riding high after their home race where they placed 5th overall, and rose to a program-best of No. 24 in the country. No. 30 ranked Bates beat Conn earlier in the year at the Bates XC Shootout. Bates looks to settle the score after a 6th-place finish at the Conn College Invite. Wickham is similar to their home course, and a top-3 finish could help book them an at-large bid to the national meet. No. 32 ranked Colby College, who recently lost to Bates at the Maine State Meet, will look to face much of the NESCAC for the first time this year. Tufts University will hope to improve on their 8th-place finish from 2019. Finally, Amherst can never be counted out. After beating Conn at Paul Short, they had a tough day finishing 11th overall at the Conn College Invite. A better race could see them finish within the top 3 at Wickham. The team battle will surely be deep, and spots 3-7 are up for grabs to whoever wants it the most.
These men’s and women’s teams will battle it out in Hartford, and the implications will certainly impact what teams receive at-large bids for nationals. It will not surprise me if up to five women’s teams and six men's teams receive bids to the national meet. Good luck to all teams and individuals competing — we will see you at Wickham Park this Halloween.
Check out what LACCTiC thinks will happen this weekend.