Gabi Forrest ’19, pictured during her win at the Ivy Heptagonal Championships, placed 37th at the NCAA meet Nov. 18.

Forrest Earns All-America Honors; Princeton Men Place 28th

.After tight-pack racing propelled the Princeton men’s cross country team to a decisive upset victory in the Mid-Atlantic Regional, expectations for the squad rose as its athletes prepared for the following week’s NCAA Championships.

Tagged as the lowest-ranked of the nine regional champions in the pre-race coaches’ poll of the 30-team championship field, the lightly-touted Tigers ignored the early-week snub. Sometimes a team can benefit from being discounted, permitting it to fly under the radar. But you have to perform on race day. And in Louisville, the Tigers were unable to replicate their magical regional performance. The Tigers’ five scorers — separated only by 33 seconds in the regional — ballooned to a 66 second finish-time spread in the championship final. The result: 620 points and a disappointing 28th place finish.

“I think we had a difficult time getting into the position where we wanted to be,” explained head coach Jason Vigilante afterwards. “Twenty-eighth place is disappointing [after coming in as] regional champions. We were really hoping for a higher finish. But sometimes it doesn’t shake out the way you want it.”

Vigilante hopes his athletes can come to view the championship race disappointment in conjunction not only with their impressive regional victory, but also with yet another Heps team title earned. “It was a wonderful season and I hope the guys can celebrate this and appreciate it for what it is, recognize the hard work and the comradery they put into it, and be able to take away a sense of pride.” With the sophomore trio of Conor Lundy, Gannon Willcutts, and Viraj Deokar returning next fall to provide an experienced and powerful core, there is reason for optimism.

The Princeton men weren’t the only Tigers to race at Louisville’s Sawyer Park. Competing as an individual qualifier in the women’s national championship event, Princeton junior Gabrielle Forrest — who last month captured the Heps individual crown and later finished an impressive third in her regional qualifier — ran a competitive race, clocking 20:09 on the rolling 6-kilometer course. Breathless in the mixed zone, the exuberant Brisbane, Australia native recounted her race. “The wind was pretty bad,” she said. “I tried to tuck in where I could behind people. It was such a great experience. I think I was on the cusp of top 40, but we’ll see when the results come in.” She finished 37th in a field of 255 to earn All-American recognition.

An animated Forrest beamed as she recalled the frenzied excitement of her first national championship competition: “A lot of people were shouting out at me. I had no idea. People just were yelling the whole way which is amazing because we don’t get that much [spectator involvement] in our sport.”

Plagued by nagging injuries during her first two years at Princeton, the Aussie economics major has been aided this fall by a carefully-scripted training regimen. Cautious preparation has kept her healthy and allowed her to uncork a racing ferocity when it counted most. “Our nickname for Gabi,” offered women’s coach Brad Hunt, “is ‘The Thunder from Down Under.’” The newly-minted All-American is already looking forward to competing as a senior in next year’s championship race. Said Forrest, “Yeah, I’ll give it another go!”