Harriers
Shine in NCAC Meet
Five Yeorunners Named All-Conference
by Rob Smith
The
mens and womens cross country teams traveled to Wabash
College in Crawfordsville, Ind. to compete in the North Coast Athletic
Conference Championships. The meet occurred towards the end of fall
break on Saturday, October 27. All 10 schools that are members of
the conference competed. Kenyon College, located in Gambier, Ohio,
swept the event, taking home championship trophies in both the mens
and womens divisions. This was Kenyons third consecutive
mens title and the second womens title in the past 10
years.
The Yeomen placed fifth out of the 10 teams, while the Yeowomen
bested them by one, finishing fourth. For the men the fifth place
finish was a slightly disappointing result. Other teams finishing
ahead of the Yeomen included Allegheny College, Wabash College,
and second-place finisher The College of Wooster. At the beginning
of the year the team believed that it could compete for one of the
top two spots in the championship, but the Yeomen accumulated a
total of 113 points a full 85 points behind Kenyon.
On the bright side, first-year Ryan McGinnis was named second team
all-conference. McGinnis finished ninth overall with a blazing time
of 27:02. This finish earned him the Newcomer of the Year Award
as well.
Kenyon placed four runners on the first team all-conference. Sophomore
Adam Greeney was named honorable mention all-conference, finishing
with a time of 27:20. Other top finishers for the Yeomen included
fifth-year Jon Rogers who placed 22nd overall. Finishing a surprising
fourth for the Yeomen was first-year Ben Stanley, who finished 32nd
overall. Finishing right behind Stanley was senior Hans Petersen,
sophomore Alex Scally, usually one of the teams best runners,
finished a disappointing 47th. Scally has been nagged by injuries
all year long and was not one hundred percent going into the match.
The Yeowomen finished fourth overall. Finishing second and third
were Allegheny College and Denison University, respectively. Leading
the team was junior Laura Feeney, who finished fourth overall with
an amazing time of 19:29. She was named to the first-team all conference.
First-year Abi Grestle of Wittenberg College finished first, just
20 seconds before Feeney. Other all-conference runners for the Yeowomen
included sophomore Julia Goeke and junior Lori Tuchfeld both
finished as second-team all-conference. Tuchfeld finished 8th overall
with a time of 19:42. Goeke finished with a flat 20 minutes in 13th
place.
Finishing fourth for the Yeowomen was junior Kyle McKenzie who ran
a solid race and ended up in 29th place with a time of 20:38. Placing
fifth was first-year Shannon Morris. She finished 36th overall with
a time of 21:05. These five runnersFeeney, Tuchfeld, Goeke,
McKenzie, and Morrishave been the top five runners for the
squad all season long and all of these women are returning next
year. With the addition of some quality recruits the team should
compete for the Conference crown next year.
The mens team will return all of their top runners with the
exception of Peterson and Rogers, both of whom will be lost to graduation.
McGinnis should anchor the squad and with some good newcomers next
years team should be able to match or better the performance
of this years.
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