A Tale of Two NCCAA Experiences

Decidedly different fates befell fan Carswell and Karen Goetze, the only two Harvard runners to qualify for the 10,000 meter (3,1 mile) NCAA championship race Monday in Ames, lowa.

Carswell ran well, crossing the finish line 17th and earning honors as a an All-American. But his teammate, Goetze, who had contracted a virus, was happy to finish 131st.

Carswell is the first Harvard harrier to be named All-American since Paul Gompers '86-'87. His place in a NCAA championship in the second in the Harvard records behind Gompers, who finished fifth in 1986.

Good health Carswell enabled to focus on the course and running his race.

"It's an extremely challenging course," he said. "I've never seen a course with so many steep hills. And it was pretty cold. The winds were about 30 miles per hour. That combined with the hills made it really challenging."

Goetze, who had started feeling sick last Wednesday, was diagnosed with a virus by University Health Services. Unfortunately, doctors could prescribe nothing to alleviate her swollen glands and dripping sinuses other than rest. She followed this advice but had still not fully recovered by Monday's race.

"The first mile I felt really good. I was in the top 40 or 50 runners," she said. "But by the one-and-a-half mile mark, I was running about 60th. I started feeling myself weakening by two miles. I was wondering if I should drop out. At that point it wasn't an issue of where I would place, but if I would finish."

Predictably, the race took an entirely different course for Carswell, who gained ground as he ran. After starting off relatively well, in the top 35 or 40, he ran in about 25th-place for most of the course. With a mile and a half remaining, he added an additional charge that set up his 17th-place finish.

The surge from farther back in the pack was not characteristic of Carswell's other races this year.

"I had been racing more aggressively this year than I had in the past," Carswell said. "I've been running in the front where I used to hang behind. But I am used to running that way, having raced in that style for most of my career."

Looking back, the race wasn't a complete success for either runner.

"I was relatively pleased though I was hoping for better," Carswell said. "I was hoping for the top 15, but I knew I would be satisfied with top 25, The top 25 are All-Americans."

Obviously Goetze wasn't happy about the Monday's outcome either.

"The same thing [coming down with a virus] happened to me last year at Easterns--it's kind of a November curse," she said.

But even the disappointing 131 stplace finish left Goetze with something to feel private about.

"I don't feel like I choked because of the pressure because started in the top 50," she said. "It was really surprising to see who choked. A girl from B.C. who had beaten me before came in after me."

Goetze also felt fortunate just to make it to Nationals, it was her first appearance there because last year's virus hampered her performance at the qualifying Easter, is race. Carswell finished 35th in last year's NCAA championship.

Carswell and Goetze earned the right to compete at Nationals by being among the top three individual finishers in District I who were unaffiliated with a school that qualified to compete as a team."