Cross-Country to Vie for NCAA Bid at New England Regionals

­This weekend at the NCAA Regionals, the Harvard women’s cross country team, along with sophomore Kieran Tuntivate from the men’s team, will look to continue to make history two weeks after a strong showing at Heps in which the women placed first.

At Heps, the men’s team, led by Tuntivate’s 18th place finish with a time of 24:16.8, finished eighth with 194 points. Rounding out the men’s team, senior Brandon Price finished 20th, freshman Murimi Nyamu 62nd, freshman Will Battershill 68th, and junior Tyler Spear 73rd.

Junior Courtney Smith, who won the individual title with a time of 20:19.6 and was named to the All-Ivy first team as well as the No. 6 individual runner in the nation in the FloTrack rankings, helped lead the women’s team its first Heps title since 1985. Smith’s finish was the first individual title for the Crimson since Suzanne Jones in 1989.

Rounding out the women’s results, freshman Erin Dietz finished fifth, freshman Judy Pendergast sixth, freshman Lisa Tertsch ninth, and junior Elianna Shwayder 12th.

“It was very exciting to win the Ivy league championships,” Harvard coach Patrick Wales-Dinan said. “I think we’re just trying to have fun each day and get better each week. We’re really happy with the direction things are going and we just want to keep improving.”

Now, after a couple of weeks of rest, the team will hope to recreate its performance and best its sixth-place finish from last year as it visits the historic Van Cortland Park in N.Y. on Friday to compete in the regional tournament.

The women’s 6k race starts first, at 11 a.m., followed by the men’s 8k race an hour later at noon.

In the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, the women have Harvard moved up No. 18 in the nation, while the men have failed to crack the top-25 all season long. The Crimson has had an up and down season thus far, but have appreciated and grown from the learning opportunities along the way.

“The season has been a steady learning process” Shwayder said. “Learning how to approach competition together as a team and individually. We have made a really strong pact in learning to build off of each other’s strengths.”

They will have to build upon everything they’ve learned when running on this course, which has been known to test the best runners in the region with its hilly terrain.

The Crimson, though, is approaching this challenge as it has all others this season: with a cool head and calm mindset.

“Coach Patrick’s main mantra has been that this is nothing spectacular; you don’t need to go out and have an unbelievable day,” Shwayder said. “You just have to do what you’ve been training for and what you’re capable of. If we perform as we are capable of, we’ll perform well collectively.”

At the NCAA New England Regional tournament, the top two teams qualify for the national NCAA tournament. In total, there are nine regions around the nation, allowing for 18 teams to be selected. In addition, 13 “at-large” teams are chosen for the tournament, by means of a complex selection process predicted by the Kolas Calculator. In order to qualify for nationals, the team knows that it needs to put its best foot forward in the competition.

“Regionals is just one more step along the way,” Shwayder said. “We’re just trusting the process. We know from last tournament that we are an incredibly strong team. But it’s not just one result or race that makes you believe what you’re capable of. We just want to put ourselves out there in the mix and run hard.”

Harvard is expected to match up with 40 of New England’s best schools. This includes No. 3 Providence, the highest ranked of the Crimson’s potential opponents, which is expected to present a formidable challenge to the team. Coming into the tournament, however, Harvard has an 8-3 record against ranked opponents, and knows that it can hold its own with the competition.

“We’re excited, we just want to go out and run our best,” Wales-Dinan said. “If we put a good performance together we’ll be pleased with the result because we’re a competitive group.

The team share’s its coach’s sentiments heading into the pivotal weekend tournament.

“Our group is just so confident,” Shwayder said. “There is no question in our mind that we know what we’re capable of.”