Oct. 18, 2008
W. White Race Results 
| W. White Race Individual | W. Open Race | M. Open Race
Terre Haute, Ind. – Rita Jorgensen, VU sophomore, set another personal best mark in the White Race of the Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind., this morning. Jorgensen finished in the top-40 of 280-plus runners, crossing the timeline at 21:12.
“Rita moved up nicely after the first mile, passing maybe 30-40 runners, and had a very strong finish,” Steve Keith, VU head coach, said. “This is the type of effort that we will rely on for the upcoming SEC and NCAA regional meets.”
The women’s cross country team placed 27th (652) among 39 teams in their 6k race on Saturday. Nationally-ranked No. 13 Florida State (89), Princeton (89), No. 9 Michigan (168), Illinois (186) and No. 8 Georgetown (186) rounded out the top-five teams in the meet.
“As a team, the experience of running against the best teams in the country will help our young squad immensely,” noted Keith. “Twenty seventh was just a little off where I thought we’d be, but is really just a matter of a few seconds per person, and we’re closer to our goal.
“We needed this high level of competition to gauge where we are and also get a better appreciation for where we want to take this program.”
Kristabel Doebel-Hickok (22:01), Amanda Scott (22:31), Alexa Rogers (22:32) and Adrienne DiRaddo (22:33) constituted VU’s top-five qualifiers. Kate Southcote-Want and Louise Hannallah entered times of 23:12 and 23:19.
“Adrienne had a nice effort as she has not raced since early September,” remarked Keith. “She should be on a good upswing when we run SEC in two weeks. Her leadership will be important for our three-four-five runners.”
Ellen Black finished first at 23:35.9 for VU, 96th overall, in the Women’s Open Race on Saturday afternoon. Mindy Skelton (23:46.7), Erin McManus (23:55.9), Melinda Eshelman (24:27.1) and Carolyn Bell (24:39.6) competed in the 6k meet as well.
The men’s team also traveled to Terre Haute this weekend. They competed in the 8k Men’s Open Race Saturday afternoon. Rob Whiting led the Commodores with a 58th-place finish at (25:55.4). Michael Nordlund (26:27.2), Kyle Rewick (26:30.1), Thomas Davis (26:39.3) and James Kasten (26:53.5) composed VU’s top-five qualifiers.
“Great race for Rob Whiting and also a solid effort by Michael Nordlund as well,” said Keith. “Thomas had some breathing issues, and Jenner was a little off today, but we did see a better race out of Kyle.”
Jenner Kizer crossed the timeline at 27:14.4, followed by Peter DelNero (27:17.8), Bram Chisholm (28:12.1) and Casey Howards (29:55.0). Matt Long again sat out due to injury.
Both Commodore teams will run again at the SEC Championships on Nov. 3, in Starkville, Miss.
“We’ll keep our focus on a tight pack as this will be our best chance to run well at SEC,” Keith remarked.
