![[Bullet]](../tribullet.gif)
Edinboro Athletic Press Release Index
EDINBORO, PA - After a strong showing at the PSAC Championships a week ago, the Edinboro University cross country teams look for a similar performance in this Saturday's NCAA Division II East Regional Championships. The top two teams in the men's and women's races will qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday, November 20 at Evansville, IN. Indiana (Pa.) is hosting the East Regional.
The Fighting Scot women's team turned in a dominating performance at the PSAC's, capturing its seventh straight conference crown while easily outdistancing the competition. Edinboro finished with five runners in the top ten and all seven runners in the top 18, totaling 26 points. Slippery Rock was a distant second with 114 points and Kutztown was third with 118 points. Junior Julie Nemergut (Youngstown, OH/South Range) shocked the field by capturing first place with a time of 22:06, besting last year's champion Mindy Sawtelle of IUP, who finished second at Nationals, and Vanessa Andres of East Stroudsburg, who was a top five finisher at Nationals.
With the stiffest competition once again coming from PSAC teams, head coach Doug Watts doesn't see why his women's squad, ranked fifth nationally, can't duplicate its performance this week. "I don't think the girls can run any better than at the conference meet," admitted Watts. "As we go to IUP definitely the focus is on the national competition with the margin at PSAC's.
"It will be interesting to see how Julie Nemergut comes back after a superior performance. Can she put together back-to-back performances against runners who finished second and fifth at Nationals last year. It will be difficult for our freshman, Rachael Lanzel (St. Mary's, PA/St. Mary's) to run as well as she did at the conference meet. But we have seven who can still run at the regional level."
Lanzel placed fifth in her first PSAC Championships with a time of 23:02. Kelly Richards (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) was fourth (23:02), with Heather Wilmoth (Sugar Grove, PA/Eisenhower) (6th -- 23:03), Lindsay Roberts (Wattsburg, PA/Seneca) (10th - 23:29), and Lisa Gallagher (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville) (13th - 23:41) also earning All-PSAC honors. Genise Green (Union City, PA/.Fort LeBoeuf) completed the Edinboro contingent with a time of 24:08, good for 18th.
The Edinboro women's team looks to defend its 2003 title, and has won five of the last six East Regional crowns. The men's team, on the other, hand finished second a year ago after 11 straight East Regional championships, and will likely have to fend off a solid Shippensburg team to duplicate last year's second place finish.
Just as the Edinboro women dominated their competition at the PSAC Championships, the Lock Haven men were clearly the best team, finishing with 27 points. The Fighting Scots had three runners in the top 13 and finished second with 62 points, with Shippensburg third with 83 points.
"We always run better at regionals," stressed Watts. "That's what we train for, and we have some extra stuff in our legs. Ryan Coon (Clymer, NY/Sherman), who fell, will challenge the top four to win. Jared Lowry (North Canton, OH/North Canton Hoover) will definitely run better after a poor performance Jim Ansberry actually ran hard enough to keep them in the pack. We'll see what strategy we use with him this week. Shippensburg's not that far back of us."
Despite taking a hard fall, Coon placed third for the second straight year with a time of 25:56. Ansberry captured fourth place (25:58), while sophomore Dan Field (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) was a pleasant surprise with a 13th place finish (26:29), good for All-PSAC accolades. Lowry finished 18th (26:45) and Davie Niemira (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville) was 24th (26:29).
The strong showing at the PSAC Championships helped the men's team move up from 21st to 15th in the latest Division II rankings.
~ Fighting Scots ~
Edinboro Athletic Press Release Index
Created on ... November 3, 2004