Courtesy: HepsTrack.com

The Princeton Tigers finished fifth at the NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championship for the second straight year as Villanova pulled away with a surprising national championship. Senior Liz Costello, as expected, was the first member of the Orange and Black across the finish line, taking 18th in 20:25. That was about 40 seconds behind winner Angela Bizzarri of Illinois.

The prohibitive favorite, Jenny Barringer of Colorado, struggled physically and finished in the bottom half of the race, taking the Buffs out of contention for the team title. Villanova cruised to victory with 86 points, followed by Florida State (133), defending champion Washington (188), Texas Tech (191) and Princeton (251).

For Princeton, sophomore Alex Banfich was 43rd (20:58) with juniors Sarah Cummings 49th (21:01) and Ashley Higginson 57th (21:07). Senior Reilly Kiernan was the team’s final scorer in 84th (21:19) while senior Alexa Glencer (132nd, 21:45) and junior Liz Deir (140th, 21:51) battled as well on the course in Terre Haute, Ind.

The South Bend Tribune, focusing on hometown star Banfich, talked to Coach Peter Farrell afterward. He said, “Sometimes, the nerves take over. We probably went out too hard. It’s OK, I’ll take a dozen more Alex Banfiches, if you’ve got any. I can’t tell you how much she means to our program.”

Two Harvard females also ran with junior Claire Richardson finishing 100th (21:17) and sophomore Kailyn Kuzmuk taking 185th (21:55).
No Ivy men’s teams competed as Oklahoma State won the team title and Liberty junior Samuel Chelanga crushed the course record by 22 seconds (28:41.3). Four Heps athletes did run individually, led by Harvard junior and Heps champion Dan Chenoweth, who was 42nd in 30:23.6. Also competing were three other juniors — Cornell’s Nate Edelman (93rd, 30:51.3), Princeton’s Rob Speare (123rd, 31:09.5) and Brown’s Christian Escareno (204th, 32:01.0).

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