Purple Valley Classic results

This past Saturday, as the Men’s and Women’s team headed to Mount Greylock High School to compete at the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams College, heavy rains and light winds greeted the team. Not great for spectators but great for running cross country.

This year, both the men’s and women’s course was slightly altered from previous years but still consisted of all natural terrain. The men raced 8k and the women raced 6k. In the championship meets, the women will contest 6k instead of 5k so it was great that the women were able to have the opportunity to experience the longer distance earlier in the season.

The men lined up first, accompanied by some great competition from schools in different regions other than New England. From the gun to the first mile, a large pack of about 15 men distinguished themselves as the lead pack. Jimmy Butcher looked content in that group and seemed to enjoy having that many men pushing the pace. The chase group was not as tightly bunched but was holding a great fast pace as well.

At about the 3 mile mark, some of the runners in the lead pack began putting in little surges to try to attempt to drop some folks. Jimmy handled the surges well and remained with the lead runners from NYU and Southern Connecticut. Although he was challenged and chased in the closing 600m to the finish, Butcher held onto a fantastic 7th place (26:04) finish. He was 6th among collegiate athletes. Will McDonough proved once again that his patience and strength over the 8k is paying off. At the half-way mark, he was in about 32nd but moved methodically past several runners over the last mile and came through in 25th place (27:12). Freshman Bruce Hallett and sophomore Jack Wambach worked together for much of the race, coming on the heels of first-year Chris Free at the end of the race. Free came in 30th (27:28), Hallett 31st (27:29), and Wambach in 32nd (27:31).
Mike Mommsen, Peter Murphy and Mike Waters jockeyed for 6th and 7th positions for the Panthers and also found themselves in sprint finish. Mommsen came in 40th (27:52), with Murphy getting 42nd (27:55), and Waters in 44th (27:56). Rainey Johnson, despite having fallen twice over the wet and slippery terrain was next for the men and came in 50th place (28:05). Mike Panzer and Dan Kaufman both raced strong and smart. They both were given the time of 28:17 with Panzer getting the nod over Kaufman (52nd and 54th). Patrick Johnson and Andrew Ruoss broke through the finish next coming in 59th (28:37) and 60th (28:39) respectively. Senior Co-Captain Chris Pelliccia was next for the men, having been off due to an injury for the past few weeks. He came in 68th place (28:54). Neal Dignum came in 72nd (29:22), followed by teammates Russell Griggs in 75th (29:22), Glen Freiden in 77th (29:57) and Jer Korsh in 81st (30:13).

The Men’s title was won by the team from NYU (46 points), followed by S. Connecticut (47), Williams (105), Dartmouth ‘B’ (109), Middlebury (125), Springfield, Vassar, MCLA, Dutchess CC, Union, and Green Mountain.

The women’s race played out very differently than the men’s The women’s team from Dartmouth ran their varsity team and controlled places 1-9 from the gun to the first mile. At that point, seniors Andi Giddings and Erin Archard broke up their front pack and the race became very exciting. The overall title went to Susan Dunklee from Dartmouth. Andi ran a very strong race and then unleashed a fast kick to leave 2 Williams runners behind in the last 200m. Andi came in 2nd (23:06). Erin Archard was given the same exact time as the 3 other people around her, coming in 5th place overall (23:08). Alexandra Krieg took full advantage of having another kilometer in the race and passed several runners who suffered from taking the pace out a bit too hard. She came in 7th place (23:11). Although a Midd Senior, Devyn Young is new to the team but showed her strengths and talent again, coming in 14th place (23:38). Senior Makely Lyon rounded out our top 5, earning 18th place (23:48). Anne Sullivan and Emily Jacobs, like last week, finished in the critical 6th and 7th positions for the women. Anne cruised through in 23rd (24:14) and Emily came in 27th (24:27). Claire Schultz looked strong and confident throughout the entire course, coming in 29th place (24:39). Places 44th straight through 48th were all earned by the Panthers, led by Anna Clock (44th – 25:48), Amanda Quinlan (45th - 25:50), Chrissy Fulton (46th – 26:00), Ceara Danaher (47th – 26:11), and Kylie Taylor (48th – 26:17). Rounding out the team were Charlotte Bemis in 58th (27:42), Grace Giles in 61st (27:53) and Haley Fox in 66th (29:22).

The title was won by Dartmouth with 40 points, with Williams finishing second (43), followed by Middlebury (46), then Springfield, Vassar, Union, and Green Mountain.