If you were not at Lehigh on Saturday, you could still see the effects of the heat clearly by looking at the results. In each subsequent race, the individual performances deteriorated at the same rate as the traffic in the medical tents escalated. If you look at our results, the runners in the Open Races fared better in some cases than our runners in the Women's Gold or Men's Brown races. This is due to the simple fact that those races started earlier, before the heat's full effects kicked in. That's not to say that runners in the earlier races were not impacted by the conditions; it was still pretty warm out there. But as it got later, it got far worse on a course that provided little shade and no breezes.
We are certainly not pleased with the team finishing performances in the Women's Gold and Men's Brown race. The heat had an impact on all teams and all individuals in both races, and we were certainly hoping to do much better out there. We believe in this team, and we know what we see every day in practice. We remain convinced that better days are ahead.
A wise alum pointed out to me a few weeks ago that early season disappointments can be turned around later in the season. He specifically cited an atrocious result at the Metropolitan Championships -- ironically enough, on a blazing hot day at Vanny back in the day. That was a low point, and that team turned it around. We will regroup, make sure everybody bounces back from a long day in the hot sun, and move forward to our next challenge.
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