The starting gun on Saturday, Sept. 9, will mark the commencement of a country season, and with it the hopes of a trip to Elsah, Illinois for the Division III National Championship. Hamilton’s men’s and women’s cross country teams have high ambitions for the upcoming season and look forward to a strong opening performance at home this weekend.
The 2017 season is looking to be one of great promise for Hamilton’s women’s cross country team. Through the inevitable cycle as the class of 2017 departs and the class of 2021 arrives, old faces are replaced by new. This year’s senior class, however, is shaping up to lead the team to great success. Caitlin Anthony ’18, Eliz Perry ’18, Lilly Pieper ’18, Abby Uehling ’18, Hanna Jerome ’18 and Michaela Guinee ’18 make up a stalwart group of seniors ready to face the season’s challenges. Other key returners include Andy Uribe ’19, Emily Yong ’19, Erica Seff ’20, Courtney Brunet ’20 and Ellie Williams ’20.
The key to the future, however, often lies in first-years and newcomers to the team. According to Coach Ellen Hull, “We had a very good recruitment class come in this fall”, with transfer Grace Heller ’19, January-admit Erin Schwartz ’20, Katie Cronin ’21, Haley Driscoll ’21, Brigit Humphreys ’21, Maisie Merz ’21 and Lucy Brinkman ’21.
Through their teamwork and hard work, the women will undoubtedly achieve great success this season. The team has set high goals for itself, and, as Coach Hull said, “Our goals for the season are lofty but for now we are just concentrating on training and taking one week at a time. This upcoming home meet we will host twelve other colleges.”
This upcoming Saturday, Sept. 9, both the men’s and women’s teams will host the first meet of the season, the Hamilton Short Course Meet. The women’s race will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Hamlton’s campus on the course which runs across the golf course and past the baseball fields. Coach Hull said, “We are excited to be hosting a high quality meet at a shorter length course 4K (2.5 miles) this weekend. It will give us an opportunity to see what we are up against this fall.”
On the men’s front, prospects also look bright. After a seventh place finish in the Atlantic Region Men’s Cross Country Championship last season, Hamilton Men’s Cross Country has had a strong recent history and harbors great potential for this season. Despite graduating a strong front runner, Jack Pierce ’17, the team has retained much of its talent and taken on a strong new lineup of first-years from the class of 2021. Henry Whipple ’18, who finished in 16th place at the NESCAC Championship and went on to compete at Nationals as an individual last year, will undoubtedly be leading the team to success this season. According to Coach Hull, “We have a number of runners that are in position to step up and contribute at the varsity level. With such a strong core of athletes returning, I expect that we will have a number of runners that will contribute to the team scoring.”
Coach Brett Hull, now in his 27th year coaching at Hamilton, has stoically led the Continentals through the strife and adversity that make many consider cross country the most challenging athletic contest, with the help of Assistant Coach John Hartpence, in his 3rd year coaching at Hamilton. The intense training that goes into distance running is indeed unparalleled by most sports. Lucas Wright ’21, a newcomer to the team, joked about his pre-race preperation: “The night before strenuous workouts or races, I bathe in a tub filled with egg yolks, like the Olympians do.” Wright claims the process allows him to absorb vital proteins through the pores of his skin. Although the science and benefits can certainly be questioned, the extreme measure of Wright’s dedication to the succeess of the team this season is undeniable. Despite the difficulty of training, Coach Hull expressed that “Training has gone great so far, and we look forward to a challenging test this upcoming Saturday.”
On Saturday, Sept. 9, the men’s race will begin at 11:35 a.m., directly following the women’s race.
