Oct. 3, 2009

Reed Helps Terps Win in N.C.
Kristin Reed and Alex Lundy each earned individual titles and the University of Maryland women earned the team championship Friday at the Great American XC Festival collegiate races held at the WakeMed Park.

The event was held on the same course that will host the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships later this month.

Reed won the women's 5-kilometer race in 17:47, earning a 16-second victory over Mary Kate Dubard of Georgia Tech. It was the second individual title of the season for the Terrapin senior and gave her three top-three finishes in her three races this fall.

Clemson Earns Pair of Runner-Up Team Finishes at Charlotte Cross Country Invitational
Kim Ruck ran a personal-best 5K en route to winning the women's individual championship at the Charlotte Invitational late Friday afternoon at McAlpine Creek Park. Ruck, who won her first-ever individual title, led the women's team to a runner-up finish. The Clemson men's team also finished runner-up in new distance coach Brad Herbster's return to Charlotte. Herbster served as the Charlotte cross country coach from 2002-09 before accepting the same position at Clemson in the summer.

The women's team narrowly lost out to host Charlotte, who tallied 47 points as a team Friday. Clemson was just eight points behind with 55 total. On the men's side, the 49ers won the team championship with a total of 62 points. Clemson was second with a total of 89.

Ruck easily posted a personal best over the 5K course, turning in a time of 17:02.4 to finish ahead of hometown favorite and defending Atlantic-10 champion Amanda Goetschius. A sophomore out of Greer, SC, Ruck's championship was the second individual crown for the Clemson women's cross country team this season. Kelsey Armstrong previously won the Gamecock Invitational to start the season. 

'Noles Grab Top 10 Finishes
The Florida State men's and women's cross country teams were in action at the Notre Dame Invitational Friday afternoon and both turned in top 10 finishes. The men finished as the top team in the southeast region with a sixth place finish, while the women finished in seventh place.

Ciaran O'Lionard led the Seminole men with a 12th place finish in a time of 24:08, while teammate Daniel Roberts trailed the junior transfer by just five seconds as he claimed 16th overall with a mark of 24:13 in the 8K race.

The duo of Wes Rickman and Matt Leeder finished 33rd and 35th respectively with times of 24:24 and 24:28 to put four runners in the top 35 for the Seminoles. Closing out the scoring for the men was sophomore Nick Maedel who finished 91st overall in 25:13.

Georgia Tech Women Second, Men Third at Great American Cross Country Festival
Sophomore Mary Kate DuBard's second-place run propelled the Georgia Tech women's cross country team to second at the Great American Cross Country Festival Friday in Cary, N.C. The Tech men placed third at the WakeMed Soccer Park.

The Jacket women finished with 66 points as four runners placed in the top 20. Led by DuBard's 18:03 pace, freshman Kate Borowicz (18:30) and Annie Martin (18:47) followed suit in 10th and 15th, respectively.

Rounding out the scoring for the women was sophomore Betsy Kim (18:56) in 18th and senior Veronica Kinard (19:05) in 21st-place.

Hill Leads Men's Cross Country to 4th At Paul Short Run
NC State sophomore Ryan Hill edged a tightly packed group by a second to take first place and lead the 19th-ranked Wolfpack to a strong third-place finish Friday at the 2009 Paul Short Run, held at Lehigh University.

Hill, who won the season-opening Wolfpack Invite two weeks ago, ran the 8K course in a time of 23:40, helping the Pack amass a team total of 87 points and a third-place finish. Senior John Martinez finished 12th at 23:54, with sophomore Bobby Moldovan 22nd at 24:10, redshirt-freshman Patrick Campbell 26th at 24:14 and sophomore Andrew North 27th at 24:15.

Indiana won the men's race with a team score of 44 points, paced by redshirt-freshman Andrew Bayer, who finished third at 23:42. Seventh-ranked Iona was second with 55 points, paced by second-place finisher Jason Weller.

Carolina Shows Strides at Notre Dame Invite
The University of North Carolina women's and men's cross country teams took 12th and 15th, respectively, on Friday at the Notre Dame Invitational. The Tar Heels were led by senior Lauren Holesh and sophomore Evan Watchempino who tagged top-20 finishes in the Blue Division.

Holesh ran the women's 5000-meter race in 17:02, beating her personal best time by one second, to capture 11th overall. The senior from Raleigh, N.C., placed 30th the previous year as a junior at the Notre Dame Invitational.

Next was sophomore Ashley Verplank who captured 38th place in 17:25 for her first race this season. Freshman Mariana Lucena, coming off her win at the UNC Challenge, took 71st place in 17:44. Redshirt sophomore Callan Fike ran 18:10 to place 101st followed by sophomore Michelle Lutz in 115th with an 18:22 time.

Deacons Finish 31st at Brooks Paul Short Run
The Wake Forest women's team finished sixth of 41 squads at the Brooks Paul Short Run on Friday in one of the largest annual cross country meets nationwide. Sophomore Anna Nosenko finished eighth overall and sophomore Dina Nosenko placed ninth in a field of 362 runners in the women's Gold Division 6-kilometer event. The men's team finished 31st of 43 groups in the Gold Division 8K, with true freshman Garret Drogosch and redshirt senior Jeremy Fisico leading the way for the Deacons.

The women's team, ranked fourth in the Southeast Region, continued to look strong in its first 6K of the season at the Paul Short Run. Anna Nosenko paced the Deacons for the third consecutive meet this season with a time of 20:12. Sophomore Dina Nosenko was only nine seconds behind to place ninth overall with her time of 20:21.

Junior Marley Burns scored for the Deacons with a 54th-overall finish after a time of 21:35. Redshirt sophomore Caitlin Crawford finished 91st overall, scoring 90th, after completing the course in 21:51. Rounding out the top five for Wake Forest, redshirt freshman Casey Fowler scored 152 points, finishing 163rd overall, with a time of 22:25.

LaPenna, Trapeni capture individual titles at Dual in the Elk

BANNER ELK, N.C. – The Virginia Tech cross country squads continued their successful 2009 campaign with a sweep of both the men’s and women’s races against Lees McRae at the “Dual in the Elk” in Banner Elk, N.C., on Saturday.

The Hokie men captured the top eight spots in the early 6,000-meter race. Senior Paul LaPenna, competing in his first meet in 2009, won the race with a time of 20:26. Junior Matt Kroetch, senior Devin Cornwall, sophomore Will Mulherin and sophomore Brian Welch followed LaPenna in second through fifth place, all finishing within a second of each other, with each registering an official time of 20:26.

Sophomore Michael Hammond placed sixth, crossing the line in 20:37, while freshman Jason Cusack and junior Eddie Judge earned seventh and eighth, respectively. The Hokie men tallied 15 points, the best point total a team can earn, to win the meet. Lees McRae recorded 55 points.

Women's XC Sweeps Events

MADISON, Wis./GREENSOBORO, N.C. - The Duke women's cross country competed in two events on Saturday and came away with team victories in both, taking first place at the Wisconsin Invite in Madison, Wis., and at the Hagan Stone XC Classic in Greensboro, N.C.

Nine Blue Devils took part in the Wisconsin adidas Invite at the newly-opened Thomas Zimmer Cross Country Championship Course and faced Duke's toughest competition of the season. The No. 29 Devils were one of seven ranked teams at the event, but came out on top with 78 points. No. 21 Syracuse with 80 points and No. 10 Illinois with 95 points finished second and third, respectively, while No. 23 Brigham Young with 97 points and No. 17 Michigan with 118 points rounded out the top five. No. 26 host-team Wisconsin finished in 11th place, totaling 291 points.

Carly Seymour led the way for Duke in third place out of 123 finishers. The Edensburg, Pa., native finished the 5K course in 17:09 and trailed only BYU's Cecily Lemmon (17:01) and Illinois' Angela Bizzarri (17:04). Sophomore Suejin Ahn took 13th place in 17:35, while two freshmen, Madeline Morgan in 17:39 and Sophia Ziemian in 17:40, came in 19th and 21st, respectively.

Hurricanes Set Personal-Bests at Great American

CARY, N.C. - The University of Miami cross country teams set a total of six personal-best times at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C., Friday afternoon at the Wake Med Complex.

The men's team saw four members of its team reach personal-best marks with junior Charles Michel once again leading the charge with a time of 25:57 in the 8k race. For the third consecutive week, senior Julio Bonilla was the second finisher for the Hurricanes. Bonilla recorded a new P.R. at 26:24, while freshman Greg Kaczka and sophomore Matthew Wilson both ran personal-bests at 26:36 and 27:44 respectively. Austin Rector also scored for the `Canes finishing with a time of 28.37.

As a team the men placed 11th with 249 points. The individual champion was Alex Lundy of Maryland and Duke took the team title with 41 points.

Graham Paces Deacons at Hagan Stone Park Classic

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The women's team came in fourth at the Hagan Stone Park Cross Country Classic on Saturday with 119 points. The top finisher for the Demon Deacons in the 5-kilometer event was sophomore Katy Swain, who finished the course in 19:49.5 for 27th-overall place in a field of 99 runners. The men's squad did not field a full team but three student-athletes ran individually, with freshman Jake Graham pacing Wake Forest in the 8K with a time of 27:29.3 and a 15th-overall finish out of 88 runners.

Finishing 32nd and 34th overall, junior Cristina Richard was timed at 20:00.2 and senior Kelly Laffey was impressive for the Deacs with 20:02.3. Freshman Kristen Buchan was 38th overall with a time of 20:09.4, and sophomore Molly Binder completed the course in 20:25.5, good for 44th place.

Rounding out the competing Deacons in the women's race, junior Ellen Huber was 58th with a time of 21:16.2, and junior Chelsea Bolton was 78th with 23:45.5.

Heineking and White Claim Individual Titles at Mason Invitational

CENTREVILLE, Va. - Virginia's men's and women's cross country teams followed up season opening victories two weeks ago by sweeping the George Mason Invitational Saturday morning. The 14th-ranked men's team outdistanced Columbia, 21-34, for first, while the women's race played out in dramatic fashion, but the 19th-ranked Cavaliers held on for the one-point victory over Georgetown.

Sophomore Emil Heineking won his second-consecutive Mason Invitational title - and second-straight individual title this season - completing the course in 24:37. Sophomore Ryan Collins followed Heineking, finishing runner-up in 24:49 and junior Graham Tribble took third in 24:53, giving Virginia the top-three spots. Columbia broke up the Cavalier finishers, putting three runners across the line before junior Trey Miller claimed seventh for Virginia in 25:19. Sophomore Robbie Eckardt rounded out the scoring Cavaliers, crossing in ninth with a time of 25:20.

For the women, junior Catherine White made her debut as a Cavalier and led all runners across the line, completing the course in 20:41. Georgetown trailed White and for every subsequent runner Virginia finished, Georgetown followed. Sophomore Morgane Gay finished third in 21:12 and sandwiched between two Hoyas, junior Stephanie Garcia finished fifth in 21:27. Georgetown broke the streak, sending a runner over the line in seventh place, but freshman Barbara Strehler (21:46) out-leaned a George Mason runner at the line to secure the 30-31 victory over Georgetown.