Honors for harriers

The phone calls and letters from high school athletes and coaches have become a daily occurrence. It's an indication of the growing reputation of the Dartmouth College cross country program. "In the early years we had to call the coaches and ask them about recruits," says Peter Fox Smith, coach of the Dartmouth women's cross country team. "Now, they call us. Of course, it doesn't mean all of them are all Americans."

No, but it does put Dartmouth in an enviable position. The College's track and cross country offices have received a combined 2,300 inquiries from high school athletes who are interested in applying to Dartmouth and want to compete in one of the sports. "A kid who is looking for an Ivy League education and is interested in track would be kidding himself if he wasn't considering Dartmouth," notes Vin Lananna, coach of the men's cross country team and assistant to the men's track team. Lananna can afford to be confident. In his five years at Dartmouth, Lananna has built the men's cross country program into a national power. Heading into the NCAA championships, the Big Green was the only non scholarship school ranked among the nation's top 20.

In late October, the men's cross coun try team captured the Heptagonal Championships in the Bronx, N.Y. It was Dartmouth's first victory in the prestigious meet since 1943. The eight Ivy schools, along with Army and NaVy, compete in the Heps. Dartmouth has been one of the favorites the last couple of years, but never put it all together like it did this year. "It was kind of the monkey that was on our back," Lananna says. "The pressure is off now."

This year, Dartmouth entered the Heps with an undefeated record. The Green had little difficulty staying that way, sweeping the top three individual places to beat second place Navy by 17 points. Dartmouth had 41 points to Navy's 58. Harvard was third with 59.

Senior Jim Sapienza of Louisville, Ky., became the first Ivy League runner in history to win three consecutive Heptagonal individual titles. Sapienza and junior teammate Frank Powers of Blackstone, Mass., actually crossed the finish line together at Van Cortland Park. They both had time of 24:23.9 on the five mile course. But since ties are not allowed in collegiate cross country, the judges ruled Sapienza had finished just ahead of Powers. "Our major goal was to win as a team," Lananna says, "and I think for the team the best thing they could have done was to finish together." Senior Mike Fadil of Liverpool, N.Y., was third at 24:25. Junior Marcel Gauthier of Garrettsville, Ohio, also cracked the top ten, placing eighth. Freshman Bob Kem painen of Minnetonka, Minn., was 27th.

The women's team placed second, behind nationally-ranked Harvard. Sophomore Moira Teevens of Pembroke, Mass. — the daughter of Eugene '52 and the younger sister of Buddy '79 and Shaun '82 — led the Green with a thirdplace finish in a time of 17:51.6. Sophomore Ellen O'Neil of Manchester, N.H., was fifth at 18:04.9. It was the Dartmouth women's best finish ever as a team. "There's no question the success of the men's program has brought more attention to the women's program," notes Smith, who has made the Green into one of New England's top ten teams for the past seven consecutive years.

As an added bonus, and perhaps as a sign of things to come, Dartmouth captured the junior varsity team titles for both men and women at the Heps.

The recent success of the cross country teams hasn't gone unnoticed by the College community. Considering the football team's record this season, Lananna can understand why. "Everybody wants to be associated with a winner," he points out. "People want something to hang their hats on."

Few athletes in Dartmouth College history have won as often as Sapienza. He has achieved all America status in cross ountry, indoor track, and outdoor track. He has also established or helped establish more than 15 school records in track. "Jim had a lot of high aspirations when he got here," says Lananna. "He belived he could be a national caliber runner, and he's gone out and proven that." Sapienza was offered athletic scholarships by Stanford and Georgetown, but he chose Dartmouth the only Ivy League school to which he applied. Sapienza is only one of 75 students in the Dartmouth men's and women's cross country programs, though. "What has happened is that it's become very exciting to be part of a program that has done so well," Smith says.

Cross country is a sport that is often misunderstood. There's much more to it than meets the eye. Before the season began, Lananna mapped out his team's strategy. He set it up so none of his top runners competed in more than four races in the seven weeks prior to the Heps. "The kids have to put a tremendous amount of time and energy into the sport,' Lananna notes. The top runners for Dartmouth's men's team put in 80 to 110 miles of road work a week during the season. They train seven days a week, running both in the morning and the afternoon. "A cross-country kid is a different breed, says Lananna. "Going to explore a new trail and not knowing how far it goes or where it will take him is something that excites a cross-country runner."

Cross country is rarely looked at as a team sport, and Lananna thinks that's a mistake. "People look at cross-country as a big puzzle," he says. "Nobody understands it as a team sport, yet it is probably the ultimate team sport. You can take the first four places in a meet, but if. that fifth guy doesn't come through, you still don't win. If that's not a team sport, I don't know what is."

Dartmouth has earned a respect in cross-country that few other programs at the College can match. And being the best in the Ivy League isn't good enough. "In sports like cross-country, I think it's possible to look beyond the Ivy League," Lananna says. "Every time the cross-country team gets off the bus, we want people to say Dartmouth has a shot at it."

Jim Sapienza, Frank Powers, and Mike Fadil run one-two-three in a race at Hanover justas they did at the Heptagonal Championships in late October. The trio led Dartmouth tothe team title by taking the top three places. The individual win was Sapienza's third straight.