Ephs Win ECAC Championships

The Williams men’s cross country team demonstrated the profound depth of this year’s team by winning their third consecutive ECAC championship at Mt. Greylock High School. The Ephs won the race with 45 points ahead of Keene State and Oneonta. Williams traditionally sends their “second seven” runners to this championship event, providing the varsity squad with one last week of solid preparation for the NCAA regional and national meets. This year’s second seven was composed of five juniors, one sophomore, and one senior, all of who gutted out tremendous races to complete their cross country season.

One could argue that today’s conditions were perfect for a championship race—cloudy and chilly with temperatures hovering in the mid-forties and a light breeze from the south. The ground was firm and fast only a week after the muddy NESCAC championships, which were held at the high school under a nearly constant driving rain. The Ephs began their warm-up perhaps a little too early, leaving them with over twenty minutes before the race to meditate on the effort at hand. When the starting gun marked ten minutes before the race, the Williams harriers jogged to the starting line and gathered for the customary bear toss. As T-Bear soared toward the heavens, the Ephs received one last jolt of inspiration.

Standing on the starting line seconds before the gun fired, the Ephs recalled the summer training, the mountain climbs, the grueling speed workouts, and the Sunday long runs that had got them to this point in the season. These seven Williams runners had proven themselves as consistent leaders among the tens of talented athletes on the team. The road to ECAC’s was challenging for many of them; sophomore Jeff Stenzel battled lower leg pain for a large portion of the season, Steve Van Wert had carefully balanced athletics with duties as a Junior Advisor all fall, Brooks Udelsman needed to put some disappointing mid-season performances behind him, and senior Jim Clayton had only two days before narrowly escaped anaphylactic shock after eating a walnut.

The hardships the runners experienced over the course of the season served only to make them more seasoned and battle-tested for this final championship race. The Ephs bounded off the starting line toward the first baseball loop at a fast clip, immediately establishing themselves as contenders for the team title. Led by junior Macklin Chaffee, the Ephs cruised into the first woods loop already at the head of the race.

The Ephs charged up the first long hill by Sweetwood, which was lined with screaming fans urging the runners on. They relaxed slightly on the flats by the high school and in the baseball field loop. By the three-mile mark, Clayton, Stenzel, Chaffee, Van Wert, and Aaron Schwartz were among the top dozen runners. Juniors Ben Swimm and Brooks Udelsman were less than thirty seconds behind.

During the last two miles of the race, significant discomfort set in to the Ephs’ legs and lungs, yet they did not waver. Schwartz and Stenzel emerged at the top of the Sweetwood hill in the leading positions for Williams. Digging deep into reserves well-stocked by months of hard training, Schwartz and Stenzel worked together during the last half-mile of the race and sprinted to the finish within a second of each other, completing the 8K course in 26:42 and 26:43, good for fourth and fifth places, respectively. Clayton captured ninth in 26:51 and Chaffee was eleventh in 26:55. Van Wert narrowly missed All-ECAC honors with sixteenth place in 27:04. Completing the Ephs’ squad were Udelsman and Swimm in 20th and 24th.

In a matter of minutes after crossing the finish line, the Williams runners’ breathing returned to normal and they embraced in celebration of their accomplishment. They received congratulations from coaches, teammates, friends, and family. All season long the Ephs had made conscientious, habitual deposits to their training bank, and on this day they finally made one sizeable and successful withdrawal.