Fans of the Week!

A huge thanks to Victoria's parents, Oscar and Michelle, for the post-regionals treat, delivered directly to our bus!  Pizza and hot chocolate: pure comfort food to make a long bus ride that much more palatable post-race (not to mention good carbs and protein to help the muscles recover). Thank you, Michelle and Oscar, and of course, Antonio!

Don't be SCARED...

The Smith College cross-country season may be over, but have no FEAR! We at the Smith cross-country blog, and the women of the team, will return for the always STARTLINGLY exciting indoor track & field season. A full meet schedule can be found at this link: http://smithpioneers.com/schedule.aspx?path=wtrack. For now, just enjoy a video from our last team practice... filmed under a HAUNTINGLY full moon.

Smith Places 24th at NCAA New England Regionals!

Last weekend the Smith harriers completed their final race of the season at Bowdoin College. Caroline Kimball-Katz led the way placing 81st with a time of 23:28. Following Kimball-Katz came Victoria Dunch, placing 93rd with a time of 23:46. Hania Thomas-Adams, Katie Paulson-Smith and Abby Mosca rounded out the top five, in that order, with times of 24:35, 24:43 and 25:31, respectively. Overall, the team placed 24th out of 51.

Check out the paddock and starting line from the meet!

Complete results from the meet can be found at the following link: http://athletics.bowdoin.edu/information/ncaaxc/2011women.

Meet the Team!

Runner of the Week: Victoria Dunch '14

Sophomore Victoria Dunch earned this week's Queen T-shirt and Runner of the Week accolade as a result of her stellar performance in last week's NEWMAC championship.  Victoria met a season goal of breaking 20 minutes for the first time, clocking in at 19:57.  Despite the sloppy conditions, she ran the Franklin Park course 43 seconds faster than her 20:39 finish on the same course earlier in October.  Victoria finished second for the team and twentieth overall in a field of 140 runners.  Next up for Victoria: breaking 19:45 at this weekend's regional meet?  One thing is certain: she is not intimidated by a good challenge.

Meet in Maine!

The Smith cross-country women will be traveling to Maine this weekend to contest the 2011 New England Region Cross-Country Championships. Bowdoin will be hosting the meet, held Saturday, 12 November at 11:00am. Men run after the women at noon.

Come and support us in Brunswick. If you think the meet is too far, think again! There's so much to do!

You may see a moose...

 You could pick some blueberries...

You could buy some maple syrup...

Or even catch a lobster and cook it like fellow Smithie Julia Child!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPcGiLVp9Zw

See you all this weekend!

Runner of the Week AND Fans of the Week!

Runner of the Week: Kristin Peck '12

Who needs a hamstring, anyway?  Senior Kristin Peck takes the Runner of the Week honors for her stoic effort at the NEWMAC championship on Monday.  Undeterred by either the pain or the hulking Ace wrap, she finished third for the team with a time of 21:01.  Kristin is also known for her skills as a James Bond intimidator, Japanese speaker, and the ever-important purveyor of Sophia.

Super Fans Extraordinaire!  

A huge thanks from the cross-country team to Nina Kimball and Justine Brusseau!  Not only did they manage to attend the NEWMAC race in Boston on a Monday afternoon, but they also treated us to a sampling of their fine catering skills.  As all the other NEWMAC teams looked on with longing, these two set up a dinner-picnic for the team, complete with tablecloths (Smith colors!), homemade pesto, pizza, utensils, plates, and even Halloween candy.  Most memorable and still discussed at practice three days later was the rich and delicious HOT hot chocolate.  Talk about a Halloween treat.  Thank you, Nina and Justine!

Smith Places Fourth at NEWMACs!

Clarke cheers as the team takes off at Franklin Park.

Snowstorm, race delay, a surprise Saturday workout, power outage, dorm evacuation....these are not the events that normally precede a championship cross-country race, but there's nothing like New England weather to remind us that cross country is not a sport for those who like predictability.  The championship race finally took place Monday afternoon, October 31, on the muddy, soggy Franklin Park course.  Conditions were not exactly prime for record-breaking times, but this did not stop the rugged Smith runners from  doing just that. They raced to a fourth place finish out of the ten NEWMAC Conference teams.  MIT, Wellesley, and Coast Guard captured first, second, and third respectively.

A few gems from the race:

Sophomore Victoria Dunch raced through the mud to a personal best time of 19:57 and finished 20th overall.

 Senior Hania Thomas-Adams tackled Bear Cage Hill to finish 60th overall.

The Pack: Kristin, fierce wounded warrior (note the intimidating hamstring wrap front and center), Abby, and Katie (about to pass the two Wellesley runners in the background) finished within five seconds of each other.

Courtney passes a runner from Babson en route to her strongest race performance so far this season.

Kylee was back in action for NEWMACs after overcoming a knee injury that kept her cross-training for the first part of the season.  Wounded knee no more!

Katie finds her fifth gear as she races to the finish line.

This picture does no justice to the muddiness of the runners' feet, legs, and backs after the race.

NEWMAC All Conference Team: Caroline Kimball-Katz (left) placed fourteenth place overall to secure a spot on the All Conference team.

Big thanks to Liza for taking all these pictures!