Season Recap: Cross Country Culminates Another Successful Campaign

Photo courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications.

The Harvard cross country team closed out 2009 with three runners representing the program at the NCAA Championships. The Crimson also rose to the top ranks of the Ivy League and the Northeast region. The women climbed to third in the regional rankings early in the season after both squads were in the preseason top eight.

Junior Daniel Chenoweth wrapped up the season with his second-straight top-45 finish at the NCAA Championships, a 42nd place finish, narrowly missing All-America honors. En route to the title race, Chenoweth captured the Ivy League individual crown at Van Cortlandt Park, becoming the first Crimson runner to win the event since Ian Carswell accomplished the feat in 1995. Along with Chenoweth’s win, freshman Phil Galebach finished 29th overall, while junior Ryan Neely, freshman Jeremy Gilmour and sophomore Michael Hoffman rounded out the scoring to propel Harvard a sixth-place team finish at the conference championship. Chenoweth earned All-Ivy status for his performance at the Ancient Eight meet. The Geneseo, Ill. native, qualified for the NCAA Championship by placing third at the NCAA Regional race held at Franklin Park.

The men’s team earned three top-10 finishes on the season, placing sixth at the Heptagonal Championships and 10th at both the NCAA Regionals and the UAlbany Invitational. Harvard also edged out Yale, 26-29, to take the victory at the 97th meeting between the two teams. Freshmen Sean Pohorence, Jeremy Gilmour and Phil Galebach and junior Ryan Neely battled with several Bulldog runners for the remaining spots. Pohorence finished just one second behind Yale’s top runner and second-place finisher for a fourth-place finish. Gilmour grabbed fifth-place, Neely claimed eighth with a personal best and Galebach stormed past several Yale runners near the end of the race to a ninth-place finish and secure the Crimson win.

Junior Claire Richardson and sophomore Kailyn Kuzmuk also competed at the NCAA Championships, placing 100th and 185th, respectively. The Crimson women earned a second-place finish at the Heptagonal Championships, the team’s best finish at the event since 1995. Richardson placed sixth overall at the event, while rookie Sammy Silva finished 12th overall. Both runners earned All-Ivy League honors at the conference championships.

The women’s squad earned top-12 finishes throughout the season. Harvard took first-place at the Iona Meet of Champions, a meet which saw Silva blow away the field, taking the top spot by crossing the finish line 18-seconds ahead of the field in her first collegiate race. Harvard posted a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Regionals and a ninth-place finish at the IC4A Championships. The Crimson also defeated Yale, 15-49, in the 34th running between the two schools by sweeping the top six spots and claiming eight of the top 10.

Chenoweth and Richardson earned all-region honors for the second-straight year and were named to the Academic All-Ivy team, while Kuzmuk and Silva garnered all-region accolades for the first time in their careers.

The team celebrated the season with its annual banquet, Dec. 4. At the reception, the team handed out awards and announced the captains for next season. That evening, Chenoweth and classmate Eliza Ives were introduced as the captains of the 2010 cross country teams. Kuzmuk received the Jerry Kanter Improvement Award and Richardson was awarded the Kate Wiley Women’s XC Award. The Jaako Mikkola Award went to junior Ryan Neely, while Chenoweth took home the J.D. “Don” French ’56 Memorial XC Award.