Cross Country: Riak headed to Nationals
11/9/2008 1:05:05 AM
November 8, 2008
La Jolla, CA – For the third straight year Saint Martin’s John Riak punched his ticket to the National Championship meet after finishing third at the NCAA DII West Regional Cross Country Championships Saturday held on the UC San Diego campus.
Riak finished the 10k course with a time of 32:35.1 behind Scott Bauhs of Chico State (32:15.8) and Marko Cheseto of Alaska Anchorage (32:24.6). The finish helped lead the SMU team to a ninth place finish equaling their best ever finish at a Regional meet.
Josiah Price finished 23rd with a time of 34:35.7 while Spencer Hunt was 61st at 36:19.9. Nick Harvey was close behind posting a time of 36:36.9 to place 63rd. Kyle Van Santen (67th) and Noah Caffrey (84th) ran times of 36:47.4 and 38:18.3 respectively.
It was an interesting day for the men whose race was originally scheduled to run at 8:45am, but approximately halfway through the lead bike took a wrong turn pulling the lead runners off course. The race was stopped and rerun after the conclusion of the women’s race.
“I was so impressed by the attitude of our guys today,” said head coach Julie Sullivan. “To have almost finished one race and then to have to come back and run again was demoralizing for some, but we talked about how we have worked out over this fall. For them to go out and race 16k today and do it so well, with such great attitudes, shows the spirit of the Saints.”
On the women’s side, Joscelyn Minton was the first home for the Saints in the 6k race in 21st place with a time of 23:10.9. It was a best ever finish for a SMU woman at the Regional level. Krinda Carlson had her best race of the season, 24:51.0, to finish 67th.
Annie Laweryson came in 92nd (25:27.1) with Helen Camden in 95th (25:32.8). Kaitlynn Pecha finished with a time of 25:38.4 to take 98th while Brianna Schmid posted a time of 27:07.9. As a team the women took 14th in the 24 team race.
“The ladies’ team result was a nice surprise today,: said Sullivan. “We were very excited last year to finish 13th, and this year, with a young team we took 14th; the future looks good.”
The NCAA DII National Championship Meet will be run November 22 in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.