Mixed Results for Rangers at LC CC Championships
The Ranger men were led, as
usual, by Monteleone and Zack Mower as the team placed seventh, well ahead of
Catholic in eighth place. Most
importantly, every member of the team cut significant time from his performance
at the Catholic Invitational held at the same course less than a month
ago. The quick progress allowed the
Rangers to leap over the Cardinals in the team standings.
Monteleone’s 28:52 put him in
18th place overall, the best time in Landmark Championship history
by a Drew runner by 3:30 and the best placement by 26 spots. Monteleone also improved his time from the
meet on this same course earlier in the month by 28 seconds. Mower took 30th overall at 29:33,
an improvement of over a minute from his previous time on this course. Junior Andrew Ehlert was the next runner to
cross the line for the Rangers in 44th place, picking up a key point
over Catholic’s third place runner. He
improved his time from the Catholic Invitational by nearly 3:30. Maxwell Rich and Tim Barnum were the Rangers fourth
and fifth place finishers and final point scorers. Rich improved by 33 seconds to take 47th
place while Barnum’s 45 second improvement earned him 48th
place. The Rangers’ next four runners
were not factored into the scoring, but as with every member of the team they
showed great improvement from earlier in the season. Greg Del Russo cut 31 seconds from his time
(33:04) and Michael Urcuyo dropped 26 seconds.
Thomas Kimelblatt did not run at the Catholic Inviational and placed 52nd
today at 33:47. Bruce Simmons crossed
the line at 40:21 to round out the Rangers squad.
Head Coach Bob Koppenol was
very impressed with the men’s team performance, particularly in their last race
strength. “Our top five and Greg Del Russo
all had strong finishes, passing and picking up key spots in the last 200-800
meters. It was impressive to watch the
guys work together as a team, running together and pushing each other.”
The women’s team unfortunately
suffered some tough luck. Drew’s top
runner this season, Sarah Morris, had to abandon the race due to illness near
the three mile mark. The silver lining
to Morris’ misfortune was the gutsy performances it drew out of Ashley Walker
and Katherine Cross. Again, in
comparison to the Catholic Invitational, the two seniors made dramatic
improvement. Walker placed 23rd
overall with a 26:30 finish, a huge drop of 2:30 from earlier this month. Cross cut 59 seconds to earn 30th
place at 27:17.
Carley Thompson was the
Rangers third runner to cross the line; unfortunately, the senior was not able
to train appropriately for the past week and was the only Ranger to not improve
her time at the meet. One Ranger who did
make marked improvement was Angela Vitellaro who cut nearly seven minutes from
her time to cross at 32:18. Erica
Cannedy was Drew’s fifth runner at 32:27, for 45th place.
As a team, the Rangers placed last with a combined score of 185, but the
performance is not an accurate representation of the squad’s impressive
season. If Morris had run a typical race
for her and improved by a similar amount as the other Drew runners, she would
have placed in the high teens or low 20s.
And, with a typical week of training, Thompson could have easily
finished in under 30 minutes (she ran a 30:03 last time on this course). With those conservatively optimistic
improvements, the Rangers could have easily finished ahead of Goucher in sixth
place overall.
Instead, the Rangers are left
to reflect on a solid season and look forward to the possibility of some
regional meets in the future.
http://www.landmarkconference.org/sports/xc/2009-10/stats/Landmark_Conf._09_Womens.htm
http://www.landmarkconference.org/sports/xc/2009-10/stats/Landmark_Conf._09_Mens.htm