BRONX, N.Y. – On a stunning fall morning at Van Cortlandt Park in New York Friday, star sophomore Robert Miranda of the Yale men's cross country team produced the performance of his career as a Bulldog to clinch a bronze medal in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. He led the team to fifth place of eight, two places better than last year. The team's score of 97 is its best score since 2015.
The eight kilometer (five mile) course is raced over two laps -- beginning with a pan-flat mile; followed by two miles of rolling, strength-sapping hills; another flat mile; a soul-destroying climb of Cemetery Hill and an everlasting home straight to the finish.
The race went out fast. The field of 82 runners was separated by a mere 20 seconds as they passed through the first three kilometers. Miranda and Nick Dahl, who have led the team throughout the year, were well placed in the front group, with the rest of the Bulldogs pack working together well 10 places further back.
Out of the woods and onto the second flat mile of the race, the pace continued to be pressed by the front group and the field was stretched out. Racing with the maturity of a senior, Miranda controlled his effort, rolling through the five kilometer mark in fourth in a remarkable 15.20, with Dahl was 12 seconds back, in 15th, with a sophomore group of Cade Brown, Brendan Murray and Hugh Sadler in 27th, 32nd and 34rd respectively to round out the scoring five.
As everyone anticipated the grueling hill they were approaching, the racing really began. Miranda seemed to float up to the leaders on the hill, while Dahl dug deep, refusing to let a single runner pass him. Importantly, the sophomore squad shifted gears: with one kilometer to go they were up to 24th, 27th and 28th. Similarly, first-year Richard Sturtevant had moved up eight places in two kilometers to 42nd place, hauling fellow first-years Stephen Moody and Henry Saul and upperclassmen Will Laird and Allen Siegler up the hill with him.
They emerged into a wall of noise from the large crowd of spectators. Sprinting the long final half-mile Miranda -- a mathematics major -- had, unsurprisingly, measured his effort to perfection. He crossed the line in third with a time of 24.40.8, the first sophomore, merely eight seconds behind the winner.
This time last year, Dahl watched the race from the sidelines with a stress fracture. Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days on, he hammered his way to the finish in style, kicking his way to 15th in a fantastic 25.11.4.
Of his race, the team and what's next, Miranda said:
"I think the key to the race for me was not being afraid of the hills at the end of the course, and I was able to put myself into a good position and give myself the opportunity to fight down the homestretch. And I'm very proud of this team, we've put in a lot of work since the end of last cross country season, and the strength of our freshmen shows that we have lots more room to grow. Hopefully, we'll be able to put together another big effort at regionals in two weeks."
In a clear demonstration of the team's future potential, the group of sophomores – Brown, Sadler and Murray – closed out the scoring five in 22nd, 25th and 32nd for a team score of 97: the lowest in four years. Murray did well to hold off a fast-finishing Sturtevant, who claimed a remarkable first Heps finish of 34th. He was followed by classmate Saul in 48th, meaning of the Bulldogs' first seven, six were underclassmen – the future is truly bright.
However, a team is not simply their first seven runners. Laird, a junior, and Siegler, a senior, are key members of a group of upperclassmen who have fundamentally changed the culture and direction of this team. They finished 52nd and 56th respectively. Rounding out the team was Evan Pattinelli, Stephen Moody, and Austin Stoner, who all produced performances they ought to be proud of. Captain Stoner, in particular, deserves a great deal of the credit for the team's successes this year. His legacy will be a team that believes it has the potential to win this competition in years to come.
Speaking about the performance and the future, Stoner said:
"Though our goal all year was to get in the top four, I think that we can walk away from our performance today very proud. We improved astronomically since last year and the sacrifices that everybody put in to get here have impressed me so much. You can't always only be pleased with the outcomes of races; rather, it is owning the process that gets you there that really adds up and I have seen a full commitment to this mission every single day. I am so proud of the guys for that. We return our entire top-7 from the race today next year, with plenty more guys to be added in from recruiting or injury. We were a mere 35 points from the victory today, something nobody would have ever thought feasible for us. The team is in good hands to make a full-on run for the title next year and this performance is just another step along the way to that greatness."
To really get a sense of the "astronomic" improvement, it is worth comparing this year to previous performances. This year, the final scorer on the team finished 32nd. Last year, the first scorer on the team finished 30th. This year, the team scored 97 points. Last year – 176. Miranda's time was 28 seconds faster than that of Trevor Reinhart on the same course two years ago, when he finished sixth. Miranda was 17 seconds faster than that year's winner. In two weeks the team will travel to Buffalo, N.Y., for the NCAA Regionals, where both Miranda and Dahl stand a strong chance of qualifying for the National Championships. From there, the sky is the limit.
