NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

WOMEN'S TEAM - 4TH, MICHAEL SCHMIDT - 116TH
On Nov. 21st the Middlebury College women's team and Michael Schmidt, competing as an individual, competed in the NCAA Div. 3 National Championships in Cleveland, OH. The women's race was the first race contested and Middlebury drew a middle starting box in a split start (the size of the field was so large the starting lines had to be separated). Once the gun went off, the Middlebury women found themselves boxed-in to the middle of an extremely congested field. In trying to maneuver into position to move up, Claire McIlvennie, one of Middlebury's top runners, was stepped on from behind and lost her shoe. Because she had triple knotted her shoes, she couldn't slip it back on and decided that, rather than take the time to untie the knots and replace her shoe, she would run with one shoe on and one shoe off on an extremely muddy golf course. Most runners would not have finished that day but Claire was one tough Panther and finished the race. Instead of finishing in one of her usual top positions for the team, Claire finished 6th for the team and in a non-scoring position. On the positive side, Claire is only a sophomore and has two more years to excel at Nationals. On another positive note our two top finishers in the race were first year students. Addie Tousley finished 27th earning her All-American status and Sarah Lange finished just 11 seconds behind her in 37th place just missing out on All-American. Junior Sophia Spring was next for Middlebury in 65th place with Elise Moody-Roberts in 92nd and Amanda Quinlan, one of our most consistent scorers all year rounded out the top 5 in 135th place. Claire remarkably finished 195th with one shoe, and Erin Toner was 216th in a total field of 280.
It was truly a GREAT day to be a Panther and we told our women that we were very proud of their effort and accomplishments. With only one senior in the top 8, we are extremely optimistic about our team next fall.

Michael Schmidt competed as an individual in the NCAA Championship and finished 116th in a field of 280 runners. For his first time at NCAA Championships I thought he did extremely well in spite of the fact that he was running individually without the support of his team. Anyone who knows Michael well knows that he was not happy with his performance however he has two more years to improve his results and we all know that no one will work harder to achieve his goals than Michael.

2009 was truly a great year for both teams. Our women were NESCAC, ECAC, and NCAA Regional Champions and finished 4th in the NCAA national championships. I would say the tradition of their success continues. The men also had a great year despite some season-ending injuries and sickness. The men finished 4th in the NESCAC Championships our second best finish in the program's history. They also finished 7th (out of 48 teams) in the NCAA Regional. We are clearly one of the New England's top 10 teams and we are continuing to strive to meet our goal of qualifying as a team for the NCAA Championships. Despite losing some quality seniors to graduation, I feel that with a strong incoming first year class we will have the talent and depth to make a good run at qualifying next year.

Bye for now and thanks again to all our alumni and parents who supported the team this past year.
Terry