X-Country Needs to Replace Graduated Stars

While most Harvard students spent the weekend unpacking and getting settled, a handful of dedicated men and women broke in their racing shoes at the season opener for the Harvard cross country team.

The men's team, which stumbled slightly towards the end of last season, launched a respectable beginning with a fifth-place finish in the Fordham Invitational last Saturday. Eleven complete teams competed in the Invitational, and two incomplete teams were also present.

The women's team also performed well, maintaining the fourth-place finish they received the previous year in the same Invitational. Last fall, the women finished fourth of fifteen teams, and this year, the Crimson surpassed eight teams in the field of twelve.

Despite the loss of a few key runners, both squads overcame the struggle they faced towards the end of last season. Both teams finished eighth place out of nine teams in the Heptagonal Championships in Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. The men finished with a record of 43-14 overall, while the women crossed the finish line with a record of 31-25 overall.

"The women's team looks really strong this year. We have a very solid core of returning upperclassmen, and we should also have a good number of freshmen joining us next week," said Kate Moynihan. "I am very positive about this season, particularly because of the great attitudes and optimism of everyone on the team. Everyone is training very hard and working together as a team, which is so essential for good cross country racing."

Beginning his eighteenth season as head coach for both teams, Frank Haggerty '68 was not sure what to expect. According to Haggerty, full practice for both teams began the previous Wednesday, giving the team only a few days to prepare.

"We used that race as more of a hard training run to see where we all were and to see what areas we needed improvement on, personally and as a team," Moynihan said. "The team ran a pretty solid effort, but I think we will really show a lot of improvement as the season progresses. I think we are in a position now where we have all just come off summer training without much speed work, but now that we are maintaining mileage and adding speed work and hill workouts, we will steadily improve and come together as a team by mid-October."

The same strong start seen by both teams the previous season may not be feasible this year. The loss of star runners Scott Muoio '99 and Margaret Schotte '99 will leave large voids that the young team will have to fill. Quickly.

"We definitely lost some key runners last year," Haggerty said. "We lost our number one man and woman."

Expected to step up to fill the void are junior Ed Baker and senior Dave Martin on the men's side. Last Saturday, both men performed well, considering the late start to practice.

"Both men ran very well," Haggerty said. "Martin was eighth, and Baker was ninth out of about 103 finishers."

Moynihan is likely to step up to fill Schotte's shoes this season on the women's side. Unfortunately, the Invitational was not a great indicator of Moynihan's ability, as she finished 26th in the meet.

" I had to take 11 weeks at the end of the last spring season completely off due to a stress fracture in the upper neck of my femur," Moynihan said. "That just meant that my training this summer was slightly more cautious, and my mileage wasn't as high coming back in to the season. But the injury is completely recovered, and I hope that I will consistently improve throughout the season as my training becomes stronger."

The men, who finished with a record of 43-14 overall, scored some key wins last fall, defeating rival Yale 24-31 (lower score wins). Tougher competition will come from the likes of formidable opponents Brown and Northeastern, which the Crimson will face this Friday at Franklin Park, Harvard's home course.

"Brown is looking pretty good this year, and will probably be a pretty tough race," Haggerty said. "The Northeastern men have improved from last year. We certainly expect to put up a good fight. But I don't expect the team to come together until the middle of October. And that's done on purpose, by design."

Haggerty said he is unsure of the threat the Northeastern women will present to the Crimson, because the two teams did not compete against each other last season.

Today both the men and women's cross-country teams will compete against Brown and Northeastern at 4 p.m. at Franklin Park, weather conditions permitting. The Crimson will be scuffing up the turf in the first home meet of the season.