Winter 2013-14
Roar, Lion, Roar
Lions Win Men’s Ivy/Heps Cross Country Crown
Columbia won the men’s Ivy Heptagonal Cross Country Championship at Van Cortlandt Parkon November 2, placing three runners among the top five finishers. It was the Lions’ first Ivymen’s cross country title since 2009 and fourth overall.Columbia finished with 48 points to knock off three-time defending champion Princeton, which had 56 points.
Columbia’s men’s cross country team and its supporters celebrate the Lions’ Ivy/Heps win at Van Cortlandt Park. Photo: Gene Boyars
Nicolas Composto ’14 ran the 8K course in a career besttime of 23 minutes, 44.5 seconds to finish in second place behind Harvard senior Maksim Korolev, who clocked 23:28.2. Composto’s time was the best Ivy/Heps time in Columbia history. John Gregorek ’14 finished fourth in 23:45.0 and Daniel Everett ’15 was fifth at 23:46.3. All three earned All-Ivy First Team honors, a first for Columbia.
Three more Lions finished among the top 21 in a field of 95 runners. Jacob Sienko ’14 was 17th at 24:07.0, JackBoyle ’17 was 20th at 24:14.2 and Ben Golestan ’16 was 21st at 24:19.3.
In the women’s race, Waverly Neer ’15 placed second for the second consecutive year with a time of 20:20.0 for the 6K course, trailing only Dartmouth senior Abbey D’Agostino, who posted an Ivy-record time of 19:40.8. In the team standings, Columbia’s women finished fifth as Dartmouth captured the crown.
Columbia’s men’s team placed second in the NCAA Northeast Regional on November 15 and then finished 25th in the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on November 23. Composto led the way, completing the 10K course in 30:37.8 to finish 30th and earn All-America honors. Sienko finished in 121st place, Boyle was 171st, Gregorek 190th and Joe Kotran ’14 196th. Neer finished 219th in the women’s event.