Dartmouth Women Ready For NCAA Cross Country Championship Meet Saturday

Saturday, November 17

Madison, Wis.

11:45 AM

Dartmouth College

NCAA Championship

Photo by: John and Matt Risley

Dartmouth Women Ready For NCAA Cross Country Championship Meet Saturday

11/14/2018 12:15:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

Big Green run at nationals Saturday monring in Wisconsin

By: Pat Salvas

Date: Saturday, Nov. 17
Times: Women's Championship 6K Race - 11:45 a.m. ET
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | Thomas Zimmer Championship Course
Host: Wisconsin Badgers
Live Results | FloTrack Broadcast | Meet Information

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth women's cross country team heads to the 2018 NCAA National Championship Meet this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin.

HOW THEY GOT THERE
•   The Big Green earned one of two automatic berths to nationals thanks to a second-place finish at the Northeast Regional last weekend in suburban Buffalo.
•   Dartmouth posted 88 points en route to second, finishing behind only Columbia (41), the team that had bested them two weeks prior at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship in New Jersey (51-86).
•   Glennis Murphy (10th, 22:09.1) and Lauren Sapone (11th, 22:10.7) led the way, with Georgia Fear (14th, 22:14.4) and Julia Stevenson (16th, 22:16.8) not far back.
•   Those four earned All-Region honors for finishing in the top-25.

LUCKY NUMBER 13
•   Saturday will mark the program's 13th appearance at the national championship meet.
•   With Princeton also earning an automatic berth at the Mid-Atlantic Regional an hour after the Big Green did so in Western New York, the two teams continue their tie for the most appearances by an Ivy League women's team at NCAAs.
•   Dartmouth has made nationals in the following seasons: 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018)
•   The 1996 (5th) and 1997 (4th) squads each finished in the top five at the NCAA meet.

PACK MENTALITY
•   Dartmouth's strength this season has come in its depth.
•   That was once again on display in Buffalo as four individuals earned all-regional honors and finished in the top-16 spots.
•   At Heps, Murphy was the top finisher in 12th, but the next wave of scoring runners claimed 17th through 20th to solidify the Green's second-place finish and push them over Princeton, 86-90.

IN THE BADGER STATE
•   Saturday will mark the first time Wisconsin has hosted the NCAA Championship since 1978. Since the women's national meet didn't begin until 1981, this will mark the first time a women's team will be crowned in the Badger State.
•   The program itself is no stranger to Wisconsin's course as Dartmouth ran in the adidas Wisconsin Invitational four straight years from 2012-15.
•   However, none of the runners heading to Madison this weekend made the trip as freshmen during the most recent trip in 2015.

RANKINGS
•    Dartmouth is currently 18th in the USTFCCCA National CCRI: Cross Country Rating Index, second among Ivy teams only to No. 17 Columbia.
•    The team is 28th in the national poll.

STILL THE ONLY TIME
•   Abbey D'Agostino's individual championship at the 2013 national meet in Terre Haute, Indiana, remains the only time an Ivy League student-athlete has won the cross country crown on either the men's or women's side.
•   It was her then-record-setting fifth individual national title, the most ever by an Ivy League athlete. She would go on to add two more during indoor season that year to finish her career with seven titles to her name.
•   D'Agostino ran the rain-soaked 6K course in 20:00.3, nearly three seconds better than Emma Bates of Boise State in second place.

FOLLOW ALONG
•   Fans looking to watch the race can do so via FloTrack's coverage of the event for a fee.
•   Live, updating times and results are also available and can be accessed by clicking the appropriate links above.