While most roommates share no more than a bedroom and bathroom, juniors Ian Carswell and Killian Lonergan have also proven to be inseparable on the race course.

The dynamic duo has emerged as two of the Ivy League's best runners, and is the principal reason why the Harvard men's cross-country team enters the season's most important race, today's Heptagonal Championships at New York's Van Cortlandt Park, as a threat to win its first championship since 1977.

In the season-opening Fordham Invitational, for instance, Carswell (25:28) and Lonergan (25:42) finished one-two overall.

At the following week's Boston Invitational, the results were strikingly similar: Carswell finished first (23:51), while Lonergan was third (24:03).

And, at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet two weeks ago, which the Crimson won, Carswell was once again the winner (setting a course-record of 24:18), while Lonergan placed second (25:01).

Despite their overall success, each has taken a vastly different route to the top.

Carswell, who hails from Ontario, Canada, never ran competitively until the end of his junior year in high school, spending the previous 12 years playing hockey.

He was inspired to try running when he saw how easily be outraced most of his hockey teammates on their runs.

"I just found that I was a lot more competitive in running than I was in hockey, and that I had a little bit more potential," he said.

Carswell wound up at Harvard largely through what he calls "a fluke." While racing at the Canadian Nationals in December of his senior year in high school, he was spotted by a Harvard team member, who recommended him to coach Frank Haggerty.

Since his arrival, Carswell has been one of the Crimson's most consistent runners, culminating in his election as captain this year.

As a sophomore, he placed first overall at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet and fifth at the Heptagonals, earning Harvard's first berth in the NCAA Championships since 1986. He was also named to the All-Ivy League team.

"I just go out to win--that's my main concern," he says. "I'm very goal-oriented and competitive, and I don't let outside factors influence my training and performance. I run to compete, not for enjoyment."

As meteoric as Carswell's rise has been, Lonergan has endured a slow, injury-plagued path to success.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, he has run competitively since 1983, in addition to playing rugby, golf, and tennis until his senior year of high school.