2008 Woodie Awards
Cross country takes third at PSU Invite
By Alexis Burton
Issue date: 9/30/05 Section: Sports
|
The Rock is now ranked fourth in the PSAC conference.
Freshman Jeff Weiss, who has been named the PSAC player of the week due to his performance at the Invitational, was once again SRU's lead runner with a time of 25:32 in the 5.2 mile race.
The time left him only three seconds behind top finisher, Teddy Meyers of St. Joseph's University.
"Like I've said, Jeff is very talented," coach John Papa said. "He definitely showed us he could compete with the bigger schools. I would say he is probably the top runner in our conference."
Helping in the men's effort was 14th place finisher Matt Bluman, who finished with a time of 26:22, and coming in 22nd place with a time of 26:42 was Chris Geddis.
On the women's side, the Rock finished in 10th place out of 16 teams. Yale University took first place honors for the event while IUP took second place.
Leading the women's team was junior Kristen Jordan. Her time of 24:05 earned her a 62nd place ranking. Freshman Ashley Paul finished in 72nd place with a time of 24:29.
Although Papa said the meet proved to be difficult for the girls, the team was missing two of its primary runners, Holly Whoolery and Katie Bork, who are both out with injuries.
"It would help a lot if we had our top two girls running," Papa said.
Papa said he was very pleased with the effort of his young team.
"We definitely need to dig in harder, and every meet is good experience," Papa said.
Papa, as well as several Rock runners, said the Penn State course, which is flatter and held on a golf course, seemed faster then what the team is used to running.
"I thought the course was easier then our home course, because it was flatter," Jordan said.
The Invitational was Jordan's second time on the course in her SRU career, and she said she is not disappointed at how the race turned out.
"It is hard to be positive when there is always something sore or something bringing you down, but we all try to be positive about our experiences," Jordan said.
The Rock will now have a week off and take extra time to prepare for its second home meet of the season on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Cooper's Lake course. Some of the teams that will be at the meet from the conference are IUP, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg and California.
Other teams, including a large contingency from the West Virginia area, will be participating. In preparation for the meet, Papa said he intends to push the team to dig in harder considering all of the conference competition.
"I am very pumped about our next home meet," Jordan said. "Everyone is working really hard, and wants to do well at this meet."
