Sept. 19, 2009
Men’s Results | Women’s Results | Photos
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s cross country team defeated 17 teams in route to its second consecutive Commodore Classic title while the VU men finished third out of 16 teams at Percy Warner Park Saturday.
Each team had to deal with heavy conditions as the course was extremely wet due to high humidity and large amounts of rainfall in the middle Tennessee area during the last few days.
The VU women held off a strong effort by Eastern Kentucky as the `Dores finished with a team-best five top-10 finishers. Murray State followed Colonels in third place while Georgia State and Lipscomb rounded out the top five in the women’s race.
“It was good to see Eastern Kentucky come out and give us a good run for the team race, it was kind of like a dual meet at the top,” Head Coach Steve Keith said.
The Commodore runners once again displayed their depth and consistency as the No. 2 through No. 5 runners ran within eight seconds of each other.
“We are really stressing as team right now to have our one through five runners keep within a 20-30 second range and today our one through five ran 39 seconds apart so we still have room for improvement,” Keith said. “Our team is going to live and die this season by running as a tight group and at this point in the season we are doing a good job.”
The women were once again led by Kristabel Doebel-Hickok as the California native clocked a 5K time of 18:16.76, good for second place out of a field of 148 runners. Doebel-Hickok’s time Saturday topped her 2008 Commodore Classic time of 18:17.04.
“We grouped up really well today and I thought as a team we competed hard,” Doebel-Hickok said. “We have a lot of team chemistry right now which is good as we approach tougher competition.”
“I thought Kristabel felt a lot better today and that she ran with more confidence. “She ran a little bit faster than she did a year ago at this meet and the course was slower today.”
Sophomore Louise Hannallah and freshman Allie Scalf provided a key spark for the Commodores, as they were the second and third VU runners to cross the finish line. Hannallah shaved 28 seconds off her 5K time at last year’s Commodore Classic Saturday with a sixth place time of 18:47.35, while Scalf finished just four-tenths of a second behind Hannallah with an 18:47.78.
Scalf proved once again that she is making a nice adjustment to collegiate cross country as she now owns a pair of top-eight finishes through her first two meets as a Commodore.
“Allie is one of those runners that has nice aggressive head on her shoulders,” Keith said. “She is a very nice addition to our program and she is making an immediate impact.”
Jordan White and Adrienne DiRaddo finished just one second back of Scalf as they posted top-10 finishes of their own with times of 18:48.57 and 18:48.94, good for ninth and tenth place.
Alexa Rogers and Kristen Findley came in 14th and 17th place with times of 19:20.27 and 19:28.72 while sophomore Erin McManus and senior Ellen Black finished in 20th and 24th place with times of 19:38.07 and 19:49.15. McManus’ time Saturday was over five seconds faster than what she ran at last year’s Commodore Classic.
On the men’s side, Lipscomb took home top honors in the team race after finishing 59 points ahead of second place Morehead State.
The Commodore men were once again paced by sophomore standout Jenner Kizer, who averaged a 5:29.90 mile to clock an 8K time of 27:19.56. Kizer finished in 20th place while senior Thomas Davis recorded a 27:32.09, good for 24th place.
Kyle Rewick was the third Commodore to finish as he averaged a 5:37 mile to finish with a 27:37.54 while Billy Malmed finished three spots back in 36th place with a 28:00.08. Chris Baker and James Kasten both finished in the top-third of the 159-runner field as they clocked times of 28:07.16 and 28:24.26 respectively.
“Billy Malmed and Jenner ran well today for a freshman and sophomore and I thought both of them moved up nicely during the race,” Keith said.
“Earlier in the week the men were having good workouts and they were running together as a group well but we haven’t translated that over to a meet yet,” said Keith. “The men are little behind the women as far as being a cohesive group. In addition to this we have a bunch of freshmen and sophomore out there that are not to experienced in running a five-mile race.”
“I think we’ll see the men making strides later in the year, especially once they get a few meets under they belt.”
Georgia State’s Janel Blancett took home individual medalist honors in the women’s 5K race as she edged Doebel-Hickok by three seconds while Jacksonville State’s David Nilsson ran away in the men’s 8K race with a first-place time of 25:29.93.
The VU cross country team will return to the course in two weeks as they travel north to Louisville, Ky., to partake in the Louisville Invitational.
