The Observer, September 21, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 4
Personal bests abound at Calvin for cross country
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The Calvin Knight Invitational, held last Saturday at Gainey Athletic Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., yielded outstanding performances from Case's men's and women's cross country teams. Competing against 11 other teams, most significantly Calvin College, the women placed second with 42 points. The men, competing in a field of 10, placed fifth with 108 points.
Individual performances surpassed expectations; almost every team member ran a personal record. Senior Esther Erb plowed her way to a first place finish for the women with a personal record time of 17:22.00, her ninth consecutive top- three finish.
"[My performance] made me reevaluate my goals for the year," said Erb. "I'm starting to look toward higher expectations than ever before."
Four other Spartans placed in the top 16: Justine Jeroski (seventh), Andrea Fischione (10th), Britta Kumley (11th), Kristen Bowhers (13th), and Joy Zhu (16th). Most attributed the team's success to the fact that they ran as a group through the first two-thirds of the race.
"I definitely think running as a pack contributed to our success, as well as talking to each other throughout the race," said Bowhers.
The women, who were ranked 12th nationally in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason poll, were second only to Calvin College, who were ranked second. They trailed by just six points.
"I think our loss was actually a huge accomplishment," said Bowhers. "Considering they're ranked much higher than we are, coming in so close to them was impressive."
Erb agreed. "I'm sure they didn't expect us to give them nearly the challenge that we did," she said. "Even though we didn't win, we really surprised them and made them work hard for it."
On the men's side, junior Dominic Smith placed fifth with a personal record time of 25:15.00, his second consecutive top-five finish. Freshman Reza Mohammadpour continued his successful season with a ninth-place finish.
"We fought hard and did very well," said junior Mike Petro. "We still have plenty of work ahead of us, but we are certainly headed in the right direction."
The men were ranked 33rd in the USTFCCCA preseason poll, behind Calvin (first), Heidelberg (19th), and Ohio Northern (23rd), all of whom competed at the Calvin Knight Invitational. Calvin and Ohio Northern held true to expectations, placing first and third, respectively, but the Spartans managed to defeat Heidelberg by a healthy margin.
"I feel that the men are even stronger than it appeared on Saturday," said cross country coach Kathy Lanese. "We ran a very aggressive style of race and I know that type of race strategy is not advantageous to this team. We need to pack it up to be successful at regionals."
This year, regionals will be held on the Calvin course; Saturday was an opportunity to get to know the terrain.
"It was a learning experience as much as anything else," said Kumley. "It's nice to know things about the course beforehand – like how we'll react to the big hill in the second mile, for example – before we run it at the end of the season."
Tomorrow, the Spartans will face nine Ohio teams in the College of Wooster Invitational at 11 a.m.
"The Wooster Invitational will be a much less competitive meet," said Kumley. "Our major objective will be to have the top group run the first 2.5 miles of the race together, because the more we practice that running strategy early in the season, the more likely we will be to employ it when it really matters at nationals."
"I'm quite excited about the possibility of gaining a national berth for more teams," said Lanese. "After evaluating the weekend it is quite possible."
Erb and Smith were named UAA Athletes of the Week on Tuesday, their second honor of the season.
