Women's Cross Country Wins Patriot League Championship For First Time Since 2004

Saturday, October 28

Hamilton, NY

TBA

Army West Point

Patriot League

Women's Cross Country Wins Patriot League Championship For First Time Since 2004

October 28, 2023 | Women's Cross Country

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Army West Point women's cross country team won the 2023 Patriot League Championship by placing five runners in the top ten on Saturday morning at Colgate.

Charlotte Richman led the way for Army coming in third place overall with a time of 22:12.4. Claire Lewis came in fourth at 22:20.0. Joanna Halfhill and Louisa Diamond came in sixth and seventh with times of 22:26.2 and 22:29.6 respectively.

Mikayla Cheney finishing ninth at 22:36.8 helped seal the 29 points for the Black Knights and that was enough to top Boston who finished second at 40 points and Navy who finished third with 74 points.

This is the first Patriot League title since 2004 and the sixth all-time, tying Navy for the second most in the Patriot League. Coach Mike Smith was named Patriot League Coach of the Year.

COACH SMITH'S CORNER

In 2004, The Army women won the Patriot League cross country championship with 46 points when the conference was an 8-team league.  Fast forward to 2023 and the 10-team league as currently constituted is strong at the top. Boston came into the meet ranked number five in the Northeast region and we sat at number nine (our highest regional ranking ever).  Navy was the two-time Patriot League champion and Bucknell came into the meet with a strong top two and a record twelve Patriot League women's titles.  Today, our women pulled off arguably one of the biggest upsets in conference history with a dominating team performance marked by individual efforts that could best be described as unexpected to those unfamiliar with this group of women.  I don't think there was anyone predicting an Army win today.  Our success all year has been driven by our depth. Today was more of the same. Only this time, our depth showed up in the front of the race.  For the first time in history, we had five women finish in the top 10.  We knew we had the best top seven in the meet but we didn't know where those women would finish.  BU, Navy, Bucknell all had frontrunners that could drive the team point totals down.  It only takes 5 to win a title.  I knew we had a chance to win but I never shared that sentiment with the women.  They understand that the goal is to win.  But me telling them that they had a chance to win would not have inspired them more or changed their approach to the race.  Our focus was on US…and what we needed to do to have the most successful race possible.  We have talked all year about this meet and how we would measure up against the course and the challenges it presents. Our intent all along was to bring our best effort today at the right time on the course and if that resulted in success, so be it. We knew that the Boston top 2 would go straight to the front and set the tone early. They created separation in the first half mile and were never pressed.  We accepted that and challenged our women to form a pack behind the leaders and control that pack in effect making that the front of the race.  The course is a mix of rolling hills in the forest and thick grass trails in the first mile and a half and then it winds up the side of a mountain on a narrow crushed rock and rooted trail for a half mile.  It is a steep, muddy, and punishing climb that can cause havoc to your legs if you take it too hard or come into it with too much fatigue.  There is no rhythm at all on this course and you have to be committed to the race and not the challenges of the terrain. Once on top of the mountain, there is a short area of rolling trail and then you come off the mountain on a steep descent that twists and turns like a roller coaster finally spitting you out onto the rolling grass trail to the finish.  We were very intentional in maintaining our effort leading up to the climb up the mountain. We instructed the women to wait to attack until we got up on top of the mountain and to race (as opposed to run) the downhill.  It took some real patience for Joanna and Charlotte to hold back early.  They set the tempo in that chase pack and Claire and Louisa hung right in there with a few Boston and Navy women until the mid-point of the race on top of the mountain.  I could tell that we were itching to push in the first 1.5 miles but that group of four trusted the plan and waited until the descent before they started attacking.  When they attacked, they separated themselves from almost all of the competition.  There were four race splits where we could track the scoring of the meet and we were behind in the first, the second, and the third splits.  What started as an 18-point deficit to BU early in the race had narrowed to 2 points by the time we started the descent.  As we came off the mountain, with one kilometer left in the race, we moved to a slim 5-point lead.  It was a precarious lead given how close everyone was coming off the mountain.  But the last kilometer of the race belonged to our women and we owned the sprint to the finish line.  The outcome at the line came down to guts and we had plenty of that today, more than anyone else did. In the end, we put five women in the top nine of the race (two of those women were plebes). Our sixth runner finished twelfth.  We put five in front of Boston's third runner and six in front of their number four.  What was at one point a close race became an impressive and dominating win at the finish line.  Our final tally of 29 points was the fewest ever scored by an Army women's team in the thirty-four-year history of the meet. I have been a part of four Patriot League cross country titles in my career but this was the first title of any kind for the women since I have been here.  Winning a championship never gets old. This might be one of the most satisfying team wins I have ever been a part of. Partly because this was unexpected, and partly because we were definitive underdogs.  The satisfaction comes not from holding a trophy at the end but more so because of how this group has gone about their business all year and the reward they now see for their efforts.  This group has been the most coachable group I have ever worked with and more than that it is their confident and disciplined approach that has defined their success.  After they won the Star meet two weeks ago, I told this team that they would be measured by how they handled prosperity. We talked about how important it was to not be entitled to success because of one performance.  I think they took that to heart. They were relentless today; not just a few of them, all of them. They did exactly what we asked them to do and they did it better than everyone else.

Charlotte Richman '26 led us again today.  She has evolved into a very consistent number one for us and she competes with a passion and discipline that stabilizes our team scoring. She is always where she is supposed to be in the race.  On top of the mountain, in the middle of the race, she looked at Joanna and Claire and told them, "Let's go".  And later told me, "Then I was flying as fast as I could down the mountain and I just tried to keep it up over the last kilometer".

Claire Lewis '26 ran as our number two and had the best race of her young career.  In response to the race plan I gave her last night she texted me to tell me "I will do anything for the team!"  That attitude was on full display today.  After the race she described how she felt at the top of the mountain, "I felt like at the top of the mountain it was time to go. And we saw that downhill and we knew that was our downhill and that was where we were going to make our money….we broke up at the bottom of the hill but I could tell that the navy runner was dying and I thought this could be the race.  We rounded a corner with a slight downhill and I saw my chance and I hit full send to the finish."  Claire passed the navy number 1 runner heading into the finish line.

Joanna Halfhill '25 was our number two for most of the race and at the line she finished in sixth (same place as 2022).  Joanna has become a model of consistency in our program. She always gives her best effort and is fearless.  Two weeks ago I described her wrecking ball mentality when it comes to races.  She set the tone today in our front pack of four that crested the mountain together.  She led the charge down the mountain that got our women into the lead at the bottom.  I asked her about her about her mentality in the race and she had this to say, " you can be handed an opportunity, but what matters is that you take advantage of it."  She did that and more today.
Louisa Diamond '27 ran as our number three today and was a part of that pack of four that we had in the front of the race.  She gives me a heartache at the start because she is always just a little bit too far back for my comfort level but I have come to trust her attack more and today she worked it to perfection.  She told me, "It was really motivating to see us all running as a pack together just like in practice.  It felt like we were all running as one. I heard coach tell me that I had to pass two girls so I passed them.  I saw Joanna, Charlotte and Claire and I was trying to get up there with them. It was awesome. It was a great feeling to win this as a team."

Then there was Mikayla Cheney '27.  She has been our number five on several occasions this year and I would be remiss if I didn't elaborate on what a huge accomplishment this season has been for her.  She was not much of a cross country runner a year ago in high school.  She was focused on playing volleyball, getting ready for basketball and playing soccer.  She has a very thin background when it comes to cross country training and while she experienced some success on the track last spring, none of that success portended what we are seeing now.  She has ability for sure, but as I have detailed, the course today was a major factor in this race and talent was somewhat neutralized by the demands of the terrain.  So what we all learned about Mikayla is that she is made up of much more than physical tools.  She has an elite level of determination and "want to" that you can't teach.  She doesn't overthink things and when you put her out there, you get everything she has….and her everything is better than most.  Her ninth place finish today in her first conference championship was impressive in the accomplishment but more so when you understand the story behind it.  We are lucky she is on our team.