Several Runners Making Comebacks
HANOVER, N.H. – The Bulldogs started
their season on a strong note, taking second at the Dartmouth
Invitational with 30 points. They were only five points away
from beating Dartmouth in its home invitational, which
the Big Green has won for the past five years.
Junior Sam Lynch led
the Bulldogs with an impressive time of 25:35.06, placing second
overall after the Big Green's Ethan Shaw. Although Lynch was not
among the Bulldogs' top 10 runners in post-season last year,
head coach Dan Ireland said Lynch's time was already better than
the Bulldogs' No. 1 runner from last season's opening meet.
"Lynch ran tremendously," Ireland said. "The experience
definitely helped the older guys, and we had some young guys step
up."
At the half-mile, the Bulldogs were close to being tied with the
Big Green until they hit a challenging hill in the last 800 meters
of the course. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs' third, fourth and fifth
runners battled neck and neck with the Big Green. Junior Julian
Sheinbaum and senior captain Max
Walden finished side by side as the Bulldogs' second
and third runners, placing fourth (25:39.67) and fifth (25:41.57)
overall, respectively. Sheinbaum, who had to recover from a calf
injury that ended his freshman cross country season early, seems to
be building well off his return to competition from sophomore
year.
The rest of the top seven followed in a pack with junior
Jake
McKenzie in ninth (26:04.11), sophomore Sam
Kirtner in 10th (26:11.95), junior
Nathan
Richards in 11th (26:12.62) and sophomore
Kevin
Lunn in 12th (26:15.22). Kirtner and Lunn
are also runners who are making comebacks after sitting out for
most of last season because of injury or illness.
"For us to come within five points of beating Dartmouth, it was
a really great opening for us," Ireland said.
The Bulldogs will compete at the Quinnipiac Invitational in
Hamden, Conn., on Sept. 18. The runners who competed at Dartmouth
will take a break next weekend while the rest of the roster will
have their first race of the season at Quinnipiac.
Report by Miriam Cho '13, Yale Sports Publicity
