Harriers Second In Nation
Led by senior captain Bob Kempainen's eleventh-place finish, the Dartmouth crosscountry team finished behind pre-race favorite Arkansas and edged Wisconsin by one point to capture second place in the NCAA Championships held in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kempainen earned his third cross-country All-American honor by covering the fast 10,000-meter course in 29:35.
Kempainen's focus, however, was not on his individual performance but on his team's efforts to challenge Arkansas for the title. "We were not worried about beating any of the other contenders," he said after the race. "Admittedly, we were toeing the line in thinking 'Arkansas or Bust.' "
That wasn't exactly what Coach Vincent Lananna had in mind. "I told them to start out running for second place and go on from there," the coach said. "No one was going to catch Arkansas. But they went out and tried to win it." "There was no lack of enthusiasm on our part," echoed fellow AllAmerican Tom Paskus '89 (seventeenth). "We wanted to place ourselves in position to take a shot at them."
"To beat Arkansas, we needed a couple of big races," explained Mike Donaghu '89 (twenty-eighth), who earned All-American status. But when the final results were tallied, Arkansas finished 1, 6, 13, 31 and 36, while Dartmouth ran 9, 12, 20, 38 and 40.
"It was a fast meet on a fast course that didn't play to our strengths," Lananna said, "but we ran beautifully. We took one step closer to establishing ourselves as a yearly top-five finisher."
This is not mere speculation. From its 40man roster, the Dartmouth squad will lose just three NCAA performers to graduation: seniors Kempainen, Mike Andrews and Jim Keohane. Donaghu and Paskus return as co-captains for the 1988 campaign and will lead a team that includes NCAA vets Ron Faith '90 and Brian Lenihan '89.
Leaders of the Pack: Mike Donoghu '89 (93), Tom Paskus '90 (110) and Bob Kempainen '88 (100) set the pace for Dartmouth's victory at the Heps held in New York City.The Big Green ended the season as the number two team in the nation.
