By Linda Gill

I have to preface this post with the disclaimer that I am a fan of Columbia University due to the fact that I have coached 3 athletes who have chosen to compete there. The first was Nicci Fish of Marin Catholic, the second was my daughter Liz Gill of Branson and the third was Steven Iglehart of Branson. Nicci placed 4th in the 2002 Div 4 CIF State Cross Country Championship and Liz placed 4th in the 2003 Div 5 CIF Championships.

As a high school senior Steven Iglehart placed 2nd in the 2008 Div 5 CIF Cross Country Championships and he was recruited by several colleges. Steven chose to attend Columbia and he has competed for the past 3 years. He has dealt with several injuries and set backs which are often a part of college running. Steven is now a senior and he raced today at the Princeton Invitational. This race is held on the course where the Ivy League’s HEPS Cross Country Championships will be held in 2 weeks. The weather was perfect for a cross-country race.and Steven ran a 40 second PR to run 24:21(4:54) in the 8km Championship Race. He placed 5th out of 212 runners.(#21 in photo)

Dan Milechman competed for Tamalpais and placed 1st in the 2010 Div 4 Cross Country Championships. Dan is a sophomore and competes for Harvard University. He ran a PR at the Princeton Invitational with the time of 24:48(5:00) placing 24th out of 212 runners.

Erik Olsen competed at Novato High School and as a senior he won the Div 3 2009 CIF Cross Country Championships. Erik Olsen received a scholarship to Stanford University where he is now a junior. Erik competed on Friday at the Adidas Invitational in Wisconsin. The Stanford team placed 1st at the meet and Erik was Stanford’s 7th runner, he ran 24:35 (4:57) to place 176th out of 316 runners.

Caitlin Schmitt competed at Redwood and she is a junior at UCLA. She was UCLA’s 7th runner at the Adidas Invitational running 22:19 (5:59) to place 300th out of 327 runners.

Alec Govi ran for Marin Catholic and he is now a senior at UCLA. He competed at the Bronco Invitational today. Alec ran the 8km race in 25:05 to finish 64th out of 157 runners.

Peter Kissin is a senior at Haverford and he has been running strong this season. He broke the school record for Haverford’s 4 mile XC course.  He did not compete at Princeton but he will run at regionals in 2 weeks. Haverford is ranked #2 in Dlll behind North Central College. In 2010 Peter was part of the Haverford team that won the Dlll National Cross Country Championships and Peter will be at Nationals again in Novermber helping Haverford defend the title.

Theresa Devine ran for Marin Catholic and placed 2nd in the 2009 Div 4 Cross Country Championships. She is a junior at Princeton but she in not competing this fall due to an injury.

If you have a runner you would like to tell us about, please send the information to weranmarin@gmail.com