On Monday, November 22, Colgate’s star runner, junior Elise DeRoo, trav­elled all the way to Terre Haute, Indiana to compete in the NCAA Cross-Country Championships at Indiana State Uni­versity. DeRoo competed in the presti­gious tournament for the second consecu­tive year and ran well in the presence of tremendously stiff competition.

“It’s very difficult to run your own race at Nationals just because of the size and quality of the racing field alone,” DeRoo said. “Un­less you’re at the very front, you’re sort of boxed in for almost all of the race.”

DeRoo finished the race in 21:20.5, which was good enough for hundredth place overall in a field of 253 runners.

Despite the solid performance, the Patriot League Female Runner of the Year still is far from peaking in her growth as a runner, as she was not satisfied with her performance in the meet.

“I hoped to finish higher than I did, but I’m still glad that I got to see what Nation­als is like so that if I make it again next year I know how to best prepare mentally and physically for such a race,” DeRoo said.

The Colgate men’s cross country team also competed in its final fall tournament of the season this past weekend, powering to a strong fourth place finish at the IC4A Cham­pionships at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, New York. The Raiders ran well across the board, placing three runners in the top-25. Sophomore Chris Johnson led Colgate in fifth place overall with a time of 25:38.8. Se­nior Ed Sheridan, who crossed the finish line in 25:54.8, followed Johnson closely in sev­enth place. Junior Thomas Hedges rounded out the top three for Colgate, placing 22nd overall with a final time of 26:26.6.

Temple University won the meet and fin­ished with a total team score of 111 points. The University of Connecticut closely fol­lowed the Owls in second place. Fordham University grabbed the last podium position with a total score of 130, which was just two points ahead of the Raiders. Colgate beat Fordham in terms of total time, but the Rams edged Colgate out in the final point total.

Both teams had a strong fall season and will have a few weeks off before most of the athletes begin training for the spring track season.