Cross Country Brings Big Sky Title Back to Flagstaff
(10/28/2007) MISSOULA, Mont. – With outstanding races from all of their runners, the men’s and women’s cross country teams both locked up the Big Sky Conference titles on Saturday, boasting the men’s individual champion and the women’s second place finisher.
Placing all of their scorers in the top ten, the men’s team tallied 22 points for a solid victory over the second highest total of 55 from Weber State. Lopez Lomong celebrated his second straight conference crown with a time of 23:51.2 on the men’s 8k course. Sophomore David McNeill finished 13 seconds behind him, with a final time of 24:04.3, and Morten Bostrom, Jon Cardenas and Ben Ashkettle took fourth, sixth and ninth, respectively, to round out scoring for the Lumberjacks.
Head Coach Eric Heins could not have been happier, stating, “We wanted to stay in a pack of four, midway through the race to about the 4k mark. Then, we wanted to try to gap some teams. For our second pack of guys – five, six, and seven – we wanted them to be in range to get in the top fifteen or even top ten. And the same type of thing, wait until about 4k and then really push. And the guys ran it perfectly.”
In the women’s 5k event, senior Lesley Van Miert, posted a time of 17:38.2, which earned her second place, overall. Freshman standout Ilsa Paulson clocked in at 17:55.0 for fourth place, and Amanda Boyd, Astrid Leutert and Amanda Griggs were seventh, ninth and 11th place, respectively, for a total of 33 points. Weber State, who produced the individual champion, registered 51 points as the second place team.
“With the women we are a little bit different in that we have two front-runners and then we have a pack of five that can all be our number 3 girl. So we wanted those girls to hang right around that 15 to 10 spot to give them all a shot to finish in the top 10, with Lesley and Ilsa trying to go out and win the thing. And again, the girls ran it perfectly. Ilsa and Lesley got into the front pack and finished strong and then the rest of girls were right there from 11th on down to seventh, so we ran it perfectly,” stated Heins.
With a tradition of running excellence, NAU men and women have now captured their sixth conference trophy since 2000, totaling 18 for the men and 14 for the women, in school history. Next weekend will serve as a bye for both squads, before they had to Ogden, Utah, for the Mountain Regional Meet on Saturday, Nov. 11.
(10/28/2007) MISSOULA, Mont. – With outstanding races from all of their runners, the men’s and women’s cross country teams both locked up the Big Sky Conference titles on Saturday, boasting the men’s individual champion and the women’s second place finisher.
Placing all of their scorers in the top ten, the men’s team tallied 22 points for a solid victory over the second highest total of 55 from Weber State. Lopez Lomong celebrated his second straight conference crown with a time of 23:51.2 on the men’s 8k course. Sophomore David McNeill finished 13 seconds behind him, with a final time of 24:04.3, and Morten Bostrom, Jon Cardenas and Ben Ashkettle took fourth, sixth and ninth, respectively, to round out scoring for the Lumberjacks.
Head Coach Eric Heins could not have been happier, stating, “We wanted to stay in a pack of four, midway through the race to about the 4k mark. Then, we wanted to try to gap some teams. For our second pack of guys – five, six, and seven – we wanted them to be in range to get in the top fifteen or even top ten. And the same type of thing, wait until about 4k and then really push. And the guys ran it perfectly.”
In the women’s 5k event, senior Lesley Van Miert, posted a time of 17:38.2, which earned her second place, overall. Freshman standout Ilsa Paulson clocked in at 17:55.0 for fourth place, and Amanda Boyd, Astrid Leutert and Amanda Griggs were seventh, ninth and 11th place, respectively, for a total of 33 points. Weber State, who produced the individual champion, registered 51 points as the second place team.
“With the women we are a little bit different in that we have two front-runners and then we have a pack of five that can all be our number 3 girl. So we wanted those girls to hang right around that 15 to 10 spot to give them all a shot to finish in the top 10, with Lesley and Ilsa trying to go out and win the thing. And again, the girls ran it perfectly. Ilsa and Lesley got into the front pack and finished strong and then the rest of girls were right there from 11th on down to seventh, so we ran it perfectly,” stated Heins.
With a tradition of running excellence, NAU men and women have now captured their sixth conference trophy since 2000, totaling 18 for the men and 14 for the women, in school history. Next weekend will serve as a bye for both squads, before they had to Ogden, Utah, for the Mountain Regional Meet on Saturday, Nov. 11.
