Upcoming Event: Men's Cross Country at Friar Invitational on September 4, 2026
Men's Cross Country
at Friar Invitational
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Friday, October 31
Van Cortlandt Park
TBA
Dartmouth College
at
Heps Championship
Senior Ben True Makes History at Ivy Heps
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Dartmouth senior Ben True (Falmouth, Maine) dominated the field and made his mark as one of the best cross country athletes in Ivy League history as he broke the Heps record by nearly 10 seconds to take first at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.
True became the first Ivy Leaguer to win three individual conference titles in nearly a quarter century. The last runner to pull off the feat was Dartmouth's Jim Sapienza, who claimed the title in 1982, 1983 and 1984. True took home titles in 2005 and 2006, before sitting out last season.
He finished the coarse in an amazing 23:59.6, which broke the record of 24:08.1 set by Brown Chris Schille in 1987. Princeton's Michael Maag came in second, but he was a full 32 seconds behind True as he finished in 24:32. It was the largest margin of victory at Ivy Heps since 1976 when Army's Curt Alitz beat the field by 37 seconds. Before this performance from True, Dartmouth's fastest time at the Heptagonal Championships was 24:14.6, set by Bob Kempainen '88 in 1987.
“We are very proud of Ben,” said head coach Barry Harwick. “He ran an incredible race from start to finish and he ended up doing all of the work as he had to push himself without the help of other runners.”
True's performance, however, could not push the Big Green to the team title as Princeton claimed its third-straight team title with 58 points, while Dartmouth took fourth with 89 points.
Senior Glenn Randall (Collbran, Colo.) was Dartmouth's second finisher at 24:53.3, which put him in third place overall. Sophomore Thomas Robbins (Evanston, Ill.) took the 19th position with a time of 25:19.9.
Dartmouth will be back in action on Nov. 9 at the USATF New England's at Franklin Park in Boston.
Players Mentioned
DISTANCE
/ Men's Cross CountryMonday, October 31
Monday, October 10
Wednesday, October 05
Monday, September 12
