Both the women and men’s cross-country teams took a running start this Saturday at the 2011 Codfish Bowl at Franklin Park.
Coming in first and second place respectively, the two teams performed well in windy conditions.
“Running when it’s really windy like that is very hard,” said BU coach Bruce Lehane. “It’s very difficult. It was challenging in that sense. It was a very hard day for racing cross-country.”
Led by sophomore Rich Peters, the men’s team placed second with a combined time of 2:11:33 in the 8,000-meter event, only one second slower than first place finisher Bates’ combined time.
Lehane said he believes the second-place finish was caused in part because they “have a few guys we’ve had to hold back because they’ve had injury issues.”
“If we can get them back in the line-up we’ll be a lot more competitive,” Lehane said. “We had a couple of key guys on the sidelines but hopefully we’ll get them back [for conference competition].”
Moving forward, conference competition and eventual victory is at the top of Lehane’s list of season goals.
“We have our eye on the America East Conference title,” Lehane said. “The men won last year and they’re hoping to defend their title.”
A total of 14 BU runners participated for the men’s team, four of whom finished in the top 30.
With a time of 25:11, Peters won his second-straight meet, continuing his dominant performance this season.
Lehane describes him as “a steady competitor” and stresses his development as a cross-country runner saying, “As he’s getting stronger he’s able to be more effective on these longer distances.”
Junior Peter Gilmore finished 26 seconds behind Peters for a third-place finish. Senior Joe Greenspun (26:43) and freshman Aaron Somoroff (26:58) rounded out the top 30, finishing 17th and 27th respectively.
In a field of 286 runners, three other BU athletes finished in the top 50.
With a time of 27:04, junior Michael Caputo finished 34th. Freshman Tom Waterman’s time of 27:13 was enough for a 40th place finish and freshman Ben Ravetz (27:21) finished out the top 50 with a 47th place finish.
The women’s team met with even more success than its male counterpart, coming in first out of 23 teams. The team’s 47 points and combined time of 1:35:40 in the 5K event put them well ahead of second-place finisher Greater Boston Track Club and gave the team its first win of the season.
“You always like to win,” Lehane said. “It’s kind of a way to check how you’re progressing and how you’re doing.”
A total of eight BU runners competed, with freshman Rosa Moriello (18:25) finishing first for the Terriers and third overall. Senior Kathleen Davies and sophomore Nikki Long also finished in the top six. Davies finished fifth with a time of 18:47 and Long finished in sixth place, 12 seconds later.
“Nikki, that was by far her best cross country race, an encouraging development,” Lehane said. “This is the first fall that she’s been healthy. The women all and all had a very good day.”
Junior Madeline Steiner also finished in the top 20, with her time of 19:20 earning her a 16th place finish. The other finishers for BU were sophomore Sharone Moverman (38th in 20:09), senior Mariko Takahashi (40th, 20:12), senior Anna Lukes (55th, 20:33) and freshman Ashli Tagoai (72nd, 20:53).
Lehane said he looks at the Codfish Bowl as a preparation of sorts for upcoming meets, stressing the importance of “trying to keep something in the bag for the conference championship.”
“We work our way through it,” he said. “We’re trying to maintain that conditioning program and compete. Tread that fine line.”
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