Athletes of the Week: W. Cross-Country Team

The Harvard women's cross-country team placed four runners in the top 40 in the New England Championships on Friday, leading the Crimson to its best race of the season.

At the meet, held at Harvard's home course, Franklin Park, the Crimson finished fourth place out of 42 teams.

The race proved especially satisfying for Harvard, as the Crimson placed ahead of Yale (6th), which beat it the previous week at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet in New Haven.

Competing against 288 runners from New England colleges, senior Bethany Helms led the way with an 11th place finish and a personal best time of 18:00. She set the pace early in the race, and a fast pack of Harvard runners followed her lead.

Throughout the season, the team has worked on staying together in a pack and maintaining speed for the duration of the race. With Helms at the front, Harvard did just that, cutting the time between its No. 1 and No. 6 runners to about 40 seconds, down from 60 the week before.

Junior Mary Unsworth (18:13) finished right behind Helms claiming the 23rd spot overall, and sophomore Leann Hymas (18:14) finished next in 24th. Both runners ran personal best times.

The typically strong Unsworth had the flu recently and did not do some of the regular training in the two weeks leading up to the race, making her 23rd place finish all the more impressive.

Hymas, who took sixth place at the H-Y-P meet, ran a solid race as well, and has proven to be a valuable weapon for the Crimson this season.

Freshman Deirdre Colgan also made a strong showing, finishing 59th with a time of 18:43 in her first championship race at the collegiate level. Sophomore Erin Larkspur (37th, 18:26) and captain Kate Moynihan (63rd, 18:46) also ran well.

Helms' performance was no surprise, as she has shined for Harvard all season long. Despite taking last year off, Helms rejoined the cross-country team in top form. She won the H-Y-P meet last week and is running better than ever.

Considering the fact that Helms was nursing illiotibial band injury on Friday, her 11th place finish was phenomenal. She ran through knee pain that has been recurring through the season and paced the Crimson to an inspiring performance.

With the strong showing in the New England Championships, Harvard seems to be peaking at the right time as its two most important races--Heptagonals on October 29 and the NCAA Regionals on November 13--lie ahead.