One more time: ECAC/IC4A Championships

Our final meet of the cross country season is Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park, where we will be racing in the ECAC (women) and IC4A (men) Championships. This meet is steeped in tradition – it’s the 110^th annual IC4A Championships! It’s also steeped in the tradition of our program. Many other cross country teams conclude their season at the NCAA Regionals, or bring a partial or “developmental” squad to this meet. Not us! This is a championship meet, and we treat it as such. It’s also a celebration of our season, and a celebration of our seniors, who will be racing XC for the final time. For them, it represents the end of a journey of eight or more years in most cases. While we still have many months of track ahead of us, the unique team aspect of cross country is difficult to replicate in track. And so this day is memorable, fun, bittersweet, all rolled into one. Many alums make the effort to come to Vanny to watch our teams race. Again, it’s a celebration of everything our program is about – past, present and future. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate (as I type this it's raining AGAIN and my front and back yards are under water).

Another tradition is a great parents/family tailgate, and once again senior Palmer Weimann's mom, Martha, will be organizing it. Contact her at whctgirl@gmail.com or by cell/text at 860 803 8198.

Below are the race times and schedules. Past runners and coaches will note that new this year is one championship race – no longer the differentiation between University and Championship divisions. This is a welcome change and should make all the races better and more competitive. There are now four races instead of six. Here's the schedule.

10 a.m.: Men’s IC4A Coaches’ Association race, 5 miles

10:45 a.m.: Women’s ECAC Coaches’ Association race, 5km

11:15 a.m.: Men’s IC4A Championship race, 5 miles

12 noon: Women’s ECAC Championship race, 5km

Hope to see you there.