2008 Woodie Awards
Men's cross country places third at SRU Invite, women take fifth
By Alexis Burton
Issue date: 10/14/05 Section: Sports
The Slippery Rock University men's and women's cross country teams fared well at the SRU Invitational on Saturday at SRU's Cooper's Lake course.
The men finished in third place at the Invitational.
Freshman Jeff Weiss once again was the men's top finisher. Weiss finished second behind IUP's veteran runner, Jose Medina. His time of 25:25.2 was only 10 seconds behind one of the conference's top runners.
"Jeff didn't have one of his best meets," coach John Papa said. "He had never raced against Medina before, and he will have three more opportunities to make up for that."
Junior Chris Geddis took eighth place with a time of 26:34.9.
"It was so much easier to run the meet on our course the second time," Geddis said. "Even though it was cold it wasn't bad at all to run in, and overall I thought the meet went pretty well."
Geddis placed in the top three for the team in each of the past three meets, behind Weiss and junior Matt Bluman, who could not attend the meet this past weekend due to a family emergency.
Geddis said Bluman's absense affected the team's end result.
"Our guys are doing really well," Geddis said. "Shippensburg is tough competition but I think that if we work hard we could take them."
SRU's women placed fifth in the Invite. Sophomore Katie Bork returned on Saturday from an injury leave, and finished in 10th place. Bork was the top runner for the women on the six-kilometer course with a time of 23:50.9.
"The ladies had a real nice meet," Papa said. "Their times were at least 45 seconds faster on the Cooper's Lake course during this meet than they were two weeks ago when we raced here." Shippensburg, one of the Rock's biggest competitors, finished only 12 points ahead, and Papa said he feels if the ladies continue to improve they have a great shot at taking them.
Second for the Rock women in 20th place was junior Kristen Jordan with a time of 24:37.1. IUP took first place, while Bloomsburg and West Virginia Weslyan College grabbed second and third.
Tomorrow the teams head back to Penn State University for its next invitational. Unlike the Spike Shoe Invitational held at PSU three weeks ago, this invitational is far from small. About 40 teams are expected to be at the invite, and many of these teams will be D-I schools. SRU hasn't been matched up with schools that big yet this season.
"Having run on the course before will definitely benefit the kids," Papa said.
Geddis said he wanted to improve his time for the meet and help the team out as much as possible.
"The whole team is really excited for the invite," Geddis said. "This will be the first time we get to see competition and schools like Lock Haven."
The men finished in third place at the Invitational.
Freshman Jeff Weiss once again was the men's top finisher. Weiss finished second behind IUP's veteran runner, Jose Medina. His time of 25:25.2 was only 10 seconds behind one of the conference's top runners.
"Jeff didn't have one of his best meets," coach John Papa said. "He had never raced against Medina before, and he will have three more opportunities to make up for that."
Junior Chris Geddis took eighth place with a time of 26:34.9.
"It was so much easier to run the meet on our course the second time," Geddis said. "Even though it was cold it wasn't bad at all to run in, and overall I thought the meet went pretty well."
Geddis placed in the top three for the team in each of the past three meets, behind Weiss and junior Matt Bluman, who could not attend the meet this past weekend due to a family emergency.
Geddis said Bluman's absense affected the team's end result.
"Our guys are doing really well," Geddis said. "Shippensburg is tough competition but I think that if we work hard we could take them."
SRU's women placed fifth in the Invite. Sophomore Katie Bork returned on Saturday from an injury leave, and finished in 10th place. Bork was the top runner for the women on the six-kilometer course with a time of 23:50.9.
"The ladies had a real nice meet," Papa said. "Their times were at least 45 seconds faster on the Cooper's Lake course during this meet than they were two weeks ago when we raced here." Shippensburg, one of the Rock's biggest competitors, finished only 12 points ahead, and Papa said he feels if the ladies continue to improve they have a great shot at taking them.
Second for the Rock women in 20th place was junior Kristen Jordan with a time of 24:37.1. IUP took first place, while Bloomsburg and West Virginia Weslyan College grabbed second and third.
Tomorrow the teams head back to Penn State University for its next invitational. Unlike the Spike Shoe Invitational held at PSU three weeks ago, this invitational is far from small. About 40 teams are expected to be at the invite, and many of these teams will be D-I schools. SRU hasn't been matched up with schools that big yet this season.
"Having run on the course before will definitely benefit the kids," Papa said.
Geddis said he wanted to improve his time for the meet and help the team out as much as possible.
"The whole team is really excited for the invite," Geddis said. "This will be the first time we get to see competition and schools like Lock Haven."
