Cross Country Begins 2023 Campaign
HAMILTON – Raider runners will make their way to the starting line to kick off the 2023 cross country season this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. when the women's team races in the Harry Lang Invitational. The race will be the first of the Chelsea France era, who was named head coach of both men's and women's cross country in December 2022.
Senior captain and three-year letter winner Carollin Mellin is poised to lead the pack for the Raiders being the most experienced runner on this year's women's squad. In last season's Harry Lang Invitational, Mellin was the fastest Raider on the course, finishing in 16th place with a time of 18:47.1. In the Patriot League championship, Mellin was again Colgate's highest finisher coming in 37th place.
"This season will be a major rebuild of our women's program as we have 14 talented freshmen joining our distance squad this year under the leadership of our senior captain, Carollin Mellin," France said, "They are united, focused, and ready for the challenges ahead and I'm thrilled they are already laying down a foundation of a championship mindset heading into this upcoming season."
Mellin is joined by two other key returners in juniors Kara Shepard and Taylor Mitchell who will look to lead a team that lost five letter winners from a season ago. The remaining spots in the lineup will be filled by one of the 14 newcomers who hope to contribute out of the gate.
The men's team will hit the Harry H. Lang Cross Country Course at the conclusion of the women's race at 11:45 a.m. They return 13 members of last year's squad, led by senior Gavin Fowler and junior Owen Holland. Fowler, a 2023 Barry Goldwater Scholar, will race alongside 11 new runners in Colgate's Class of 2027.
This year's Raiders will look to build on last year's 10th-place finish in the Patriot League Championships where Holland was the first to finish for Colgate in 75th place.
"I am extremely excited about the future of our men's team this season," France said. "We are returning all of our team that competed at Patriots this past year along with adding 11 very talented freshmen to the mix that I expect to be key contributors to our team's overall success. This season will be the start of something truly special that we're building here at Colgate and I'm looking forward to seeing all of our student-athletes' goals come to fruition."
Players Mentioned
Players Mentioned
Latest Women's Cross Country
- Colgate Holds 17th Annual Golden ’GatesHAMILTON — Colgate Athletics held its 17th annual Golden 'Gates award ceremony Monday evening on Cotterell Court, honoring its student-athletes and presenting department awards.
- Colgate Places 147 on Patriot Fall Academic Honor RollHAMILTON – Colgate University placed 147 student-athletes on the 2023-24 Patriot League Fall Academic Honor Roll, announced by the League office on Thursday.
- Colgate Student-Athletes Post 97 Percent GSRHAMILTON – Colgate University student-athletes continue to set a national standard in the classroom, posting a 97 percent graduation success rate according to the new NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) data released on Wednesday.
- Cross Country Season Comes to a CloseBRONX, N.Y. – Colgate cross country wrapped up the first full season of the Chelsea France era on Friday, with the men's team finishing 31st out of 37 teams while the women placed 33rd in the NCAA Regional race at Van Cortlandt Park.
- Holland and Shepard Land Academic HonorsBETHLEHEM, Pa. – Colgate cross country's Owen Holland and Kara Shepard were voted to the Patriot League All-Academic Teams, the conference announced on Friday. Both Raiders competed in every race this year for Colgate and set multiple new PRs in the process.
- Home Course Advantage Helps Raiders in League ChampionshipHAMILTON - A bit of rain on a warm Saturday morning at the Harry H. Lang XC Course was no problem for the Colgate Cross Country program as both the men and the women ran well for what will be the last meet of the year for many involved. The men came in seventh out of 10 competing schools, the highest finish for the program since a sixth-place spot in the 2012 league race, while the women finished eighth and notched their highest Patriot League point total since 2020.
