Oct. 1, 2011
In a field of over 30 competing schools and over 300 runners, the Vanderbilt cross country men placed 8th overall, and the women’s “B” team placed 10th overall at the 10th Annual Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic.
Louisville native Liz Anderson opened her season finishing first for the Commodores and placing ninth overall with her time of 17:16.35. Her time is the No. 2 Vanderbilt performance on the Louisville course, just behind Rita Jorgensen’s 2008 performance of 17:14.
“Very nice opener for Liz, finishing 9th overall with a personal best,” said head coach Steve Keith. “Kristabel ran a very even paced race and Becca put up a very solid 8:09 effort. Senior Erin McManus also ran a personal best rounding out our scoring five.”
Kristabel Doebel-Hickok finished 47th overall with her time of 18:02.00, Rebecca Chandler clocked a 60th place time of 18:09.38, Claire Benjamin’s 18:32.16 scored her a 106th place finish, while McManus ran her personal best of 18:36.22 in the 5K event.
On the men’s side, junior Alan Ash paced his Commodores with a 34th place time of 25:47.98. John Ewing (39, 25:53.89), John Adams (67, 26:11.77), Matt Cleveland (83, 26:18.47) and Andrew Bachman (89, 26:21.16) rounded out the scoring for the men.
“The men showed some real improvement and at the 4mile mark we were grouped up very well,” said Keith. “Now they need to focus on finishing things off in their last mile.”
“I’m happy with our team performances,” said Keith. “Both groups are showing signs of real progress. Now we’re all back on a two week cycle of training as we prepare for Wisconsin and the Pre-Nationals.”
The top women runners rested this weekend, and will be the group to head to Wisconsin to compete against other nationally ranked teams.
