Aug. 16, 2005
NEW YORK, N.Y. - After eight successful seasons with the cross country and track and field programs, Head Women's Cross Country Coach and Associate Head Men and Women's Track and Field Coach Craig Lake will leave Columbia University to assume the duties of Director of Men and Women's Cross Country and Track and Field at Brown University effective September 1, 2005, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education Dr. M. Dianne Murphy announced today.
"We are delighted for Craig to have the opportunity to be one of the few women in the country to direct a men and women's cross country and track and field program," Dr. Murphy noted. "It is difficult to lose a quality coach like Craig, but over the course of her tenure, she's helped build a championship program with integrity and a consistent commitment to excellence. We wish her nothing but success as she takes the reigns at Brown."
In the past five seasons, Lake has led the women's cross country team to five top-25 finishes, including an 11th place finish in 2002 and a13th place finish in 2003 and 2004. In each of those seasons, the Lions were ranked nationally most of the fall, rising as high as eighth. Columbia is one of only nine schools in the nation to finish in the top 25 each of the last four years.
The Lions have won the last three Ivy League Heptagonal Championships -- by the largest margin in the meet's history in 2002 -- finished first at the 2002 NCAA Northeast Regional and were second in 2003 and 2004, and stretched their string of Metropolitan Cross Country Championship titles to seven in a row. Following her team's victory at the 2002 Northeast Regional, Lake was voted the Northeast Regional Coach of the Year by the United States Track Coaches Association.
These team and individual achievements are even more impressive when put into a historical context. Before Lake arrived, the women's cross country team had never finished above last place at the Heptagonal Championships. Since 1999, it has not finished below third.
"It was a difficult decision to leave because after eight years of working here, I feel a great sense of investment and loyalty to the Columbia cross country and track and field programs as well as the alumni base," Lake said. "I leave here feeling confident that the women's team is exceptionally prepared and ready to have its best year ever. It is also comforting to know that they are in great hands with Coach Wood and his staff."
Lake has coached 24 of the women on Columbia's top 25 list at Van Cortlandt Park and three All-Americans in Caitlin Hickin, Delilah DiCrescenzo and Caroline Bierbaum. In 2004, Caroline Bierbaum earned Cross Country All-American honors by finishing third at the NCAA Championships and winning Columbia's first-ever Individual Heptagonal title, while DiCrescenzo won her third consecutive Heptagonal title in the steeplechase and earned All-American honors by finishing ninth at the NCAA Championships. Bierbaum went on to finish second nationally and earn All-American status in the indoor 5,000m and the outdoor 10,000m.
"I am excited to embark on this opportunity at Brown," Lake said. "It is extremely exciting to be one of only a handful of women in the nation with the distinction of being a director of both the men's and women's cross country and track and field programs."
