Princeton's Depth Too Much For Harvard As Tigers Sweep Ivy League XC Titles

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

John Nepolitan PHOTOS

NCAA cross country champion Graham Blanks of Harvard cruised through 8,000 meters on the fast Princeton Cross Country Course on Saturday and New Jersey and no one could stay with him. 

Blanks, who represented the U.S. at the Olympic Games in Paris, ran a time of 22:14.6 -- the fastest time ever for an Ivy League student-athlete at a Heps 8-kilometer race. 

Blanks is also the first Harvard runner to win two consecutive cross country titles in the meet since Doug Hardin did it in 1967 and 1968. 

Blanks won the race by 32 seconds. Dylan Throop from Penn was second in 22:46.4 and Talha Sayed of Columbia was third in 22:57.5. 

Princeton beat Harvard 51-62 for its fourth consecutive team title thanks to fifth runner Harrison Witt's 14th place finish. Harvard's fifth man was 36th. 

Columbia's Phoebe Anderson ran to a 12-second win in the women's race, clocking 19:52.7 over 6 kilometers.

Princeton put four in the top eight, including second place Mena Scratchard (20:04.7) and third place Anna McNatt (20:17.1). 

The Tigers scored 40 points and won the women's championship for the first time since 2015. 

Harvard, which put six in the top 16, finished second with 53 points. Molly Malague was fifth for the Crimson and Penelope Salmon was sixth.