Despite this being her first race since last year’s Ivy League Heptagonal Championship, HEPS, cross country runner Ellie Tymorek ’25 placed first in the Women’s Championship 5k Individual race at the New England Championship, held at Franklin Park in Boston on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Tymorek suffered a reaction to a femoral neck stress fracture her sophomore spring, which continued into the summer. She reflected that her success this season is due to the support she feels from her teammates and coaches, along with her own -determination.
“It was very fulfilling that all the work, cross-training, working with the trainer and trying to hustle to put together a cross-country season culminated in a good first race,” Tymorek said.
Tymorek won the Women's Championship 5k Individual races with a time of 18:04.8. Tymorek led the race with a sizable gap as second-place Isa Meyers of Northeastern University finished 20.1 seconds after Tymorek. Although Tymorek finished on top, she said her recovery was a slow and tedious process — with every bit of effort contributing to her success at the Championship.
“I think it was really motivating to see the success of my teammates around me and to want to contribute to having cross-country success this year,” Tymorek said. “So as long and at times painful as it is, I was excited to [compete].”
Overall, Dartmouth finished second in the championship. Running for the Big Green included Esme Huh ’26 in ninth (18:44.5), Mia Compton-Engle ’26 in 12th (18:55.5), Annie Jackson ’24 in 13th (18:58.2) and Evie Cohen ’25 in 14th (19:01.2).
Due to her success in Boston, Tymorek was named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Athlete of the week and Dartmouth Athletics Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, Oct. 10. Tymorek was the NCAA Division I Women’s recipient, marking the second time in program history that Dartmouth has had an Athletic National Athlete of the Week. The only other Athletic National Athlete of the Week was Abbey D’Agostino ’14 who was awarded the recognition in 2013.
“I think that there’s still a lot more to be done,” Tymorek said. “But I was running with my teammates, my coach and trainers who I’ve worked very closely with in mind. I think I just wanted to make them proud.”
Throughout Tymorek’s injuries, her teammates acted as a beam of support and catalyst for her improvement. Co-captain of the women’s cross country team Emily Levonas ’24 described her sense of pride she felt for Tymorek and her improvement over the last couple of months.
“I remember sitting with Ellie over the summer and having a little heart to heart about where she thought that she was going to be in the middle of the fall,” Levonas said. “It’s so inspiring for a lot of people, especially for myself, to see her having success in such a short period of time when really only two months ago, she was thinking that maybe she wasn’t going to run at all this season.”
Regardless of being injured, Tymorek would not stop to cheer on her teammates to reach their personal goals. Her hardworking nature and her unrest to fully recover did not go unnoticed by her peers. Bella Pietrasiewicz ’25 described how excited the team was to have Tymorek back on the course and contribute to the team’s success.
“To watch [Tymorek] succeed was just so awesome after so long of supporting everybody else and being there for all of us, despite dying to be out there and then finally getting out there,” Pietrasiewicz said.
Additionally, Katherine Strong ’26 echoed the importance of Tymorek’s support for her teammates when she was unable to compete.
“When you’re injured, it can be hard to watch your teammates running and training when you can't be there,” Strong said. “But [Tymorek] was always so supportive to come out and watch our workouts and cheer and text everyone good luck when she couldn’t travel to races.”
Tymorek will be back in action at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship at Franklin Park this Saturday, Oct. 28.
HEPS, Tymorek described, is a special meet not only because of the peer competition with other Ivies, but because of the camaraderie it creates for all the members of Big Green cross country.
“I think HEPS is unlike any other meet because you have that edge in that personal sense because it’s the Ivy League,” Tymorek said. “You’re thinking about racing as part of the team rather than for yourself.”
