Colby ranked 4th in final

Finishing fifth at the NCAA Division III Championships in 2004 was the best the women’s cross country team has ever finished at the national meet. The Mules were able to duplicate that achievement in 2005 when Colby once again placed fifth in the country under head coach Deb Aitken.

Senior Jess Minty and junior Karen Prisby each earned All-America honors for finishing in the top 35 overall. Minty, an All-American in indoor track last year, finished in 16th place, while Prisby took 19th place.

Colby got to the NCAA meet by placing second at the NCAA New England Regional qualifier. The Mules had four runners – Minty (fifth place), Prisby (10th), Liz Turner (17th) and Anna King (18th) in the top 20.

The Mules also took third place in the NESCAC meet behind a fourth from Prisby and a sixth by Minty. Colby hosted the State of Maine Championships and won the race behind a win by Minty, a second from Prisby and a third from King. Minty finished in first place and Prisby was third in helping Colby win the 35-team UMass-Dartmouth Invitational to start the season.

With six of the top seven runners returning following the best season in school history in 2004, the Colby women’s cross-country team has high expectations in 2005. The Mules will look to win another Maine State title, finish in the top four at the NESCAC meet, finish in the top four at the New England Division III Championships, and return to the NCAA Division III Championships and finish in the top five.

Senior tri-captains Hillary Easter, Jessica Minty, and Elizabeth Turner will lead the team. Easter (Jay, Maine) remained a top four to seven runner through last year and is coming off her strongest Nordic ski season and a highly successful outdoor track year. Turner (Cape Neddick, Maine) had a much-improved season a year ago. Although she spent her second semester in Australia, she will return with every intention of remaining in the top seven. Minty (Concord, Mass.) is the likely candidate to take over the lead position after her strong cross-country season and an amazing indoor season in which she broke three school records in the 800-meter run, 1,000-meter run, and mile. Minty went undefeated in the 800 meters and earned her first All-America honor, finishing second at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Junior Karen Prisby (Agawam, N.Y.) was the third Colby runner across the finish line at nationals and won most improved honors during the indoor track season. Sophomore Anna King (Greenland, N.H.) was second for Colby at nationals and had an equally impressive indoor track season while earning her second trip to national competition in the mile and an 11th -place finish. King is another likely candidate to challenge for the lead position. Elizabeth Petit (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), fifth for the team at nationals, had an impressive and very consistent cross-country season and showed steady improvement during the indoor and outdoor track seasons.

In addition to the top six runners returning, the team has a strong group of runners returning who will be vying to break into the top seven pack: sophomores Shannon Burnham (Bailey's Island, Wis.), Sharon Fuller (Old Town, Maine), Megan Lehmann (Sitka, Alaska), Lane Marder (Weston, Mass.), and juniors Elizabeth Coogan (Concord, Mass.), Kirsten Davis (Franklin, Mass.), and Betsy Littlefield (Wellesley, Mass.).

Colby's distance training program is divided into four or five phases, with each phase focused on the improvement of a different energy system. Workouts are designed to improve cellular adaptation and running economy, increase maximum oxygen capacity, and elevate lactate threshold. The emphasis is on individual development. Every effort is made to ensure that each individual is challenged without over- or under-training.

Thanks to a gift from Judge and Mrs. Levin Campbell and their daughter Eleanor '81, Colby has developed five miles of running trails over the 714-acre Mayflower Hill campus. The wood-chipped and grass-covered trails have been the site of state, NESCAC, and ECAC championship races.

The greater Waterville area is a runner's haven. In addition to the Campbell Trails, a variety of dirt roads within the Belgrade Lakes area, local golf courses, and area trails provide an array of soft surfaces and varying terrain on which to train and endless miles of breathtaking scenery that is hard for the running enthusiast to resist.

» About the Cross Country Trails