With all the excitement of a championship track meet, and the expectations that go with it, the Stony Brook Seawolves women’s cross country team traveled to Terra Haute, Indiana to compete in the NCAA Championships last week. With focused determination, the Seawolves set out to prove they were not a run-of-the-mill team from the Atlantic Coast corridor, but a national competitor.
While the determination might have been present, it wasn’t enough to catapult the team into a first place finish, instead finishing in 30th of 31 teams.
Leading the way for the women’s team were sophomores Holly and Lucy Van Dalen. These girls have consistently placed in the top of the team all season. Leading the Seawolves to the Championships was just one blip on their ever-rising list of achievements. Lucy Van Dalen led the women’s team with a 91st place finish in a time of 21:20. Placing just six seconds later was her sister Holly, who took 103rd place in 21:26.
Finishing next for the ladies was junior Laura Huet, who finished 143rd place with a time of 21:48. Rounding out the women’s finishes was freshman Hayley green, who placed 177th with a time of 22:07, and sophomores Carolina Cortes and Ruth Gillespie, who finished in 198th place (22:36) and 215th (24:19), respectively.
After the meet, Coach Ronan expressed his pleasure with coaching this cross country team this season.
“Returning to the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row was a great achievement by this group of young ladies,” he said. “They overcame sickness and injuries during the second half of the season to reach a goal we had set 12 months earlier.
“In order to be successful at that level, you need to compete in that environment on a regular basis.”
Coach Ronan was also happy about his team’s improvement this year.
“We took a little step this year by beating one team and finishing 30th in the country, next year we will aim for the top 25,” he said. “The only place to go from here is up, and with more practice, that goal of the top 25 will be looking more and more attainable.”
