Sept. 28, 2006
Bethlehem, Pa. - On Friday, over 220 collegiate and high school cross country teams will convene on the Goodman Campus for the 33rd annual Brooks Paul Short Run that is scheduled to start at 2:00 pm with the men's collegiate invitational race. There will be eight different races separated into college invite, open, high school varsity and high school JV categories. Additionally, there will be an awards ceremony for the college portion and another ceremony for the high school.
"The Brooks Paul Short Run will be a real showcased cross country event," said Lehigh head coach Debbie Utesch. "It will give people an opportunity to come out and enjoy top level competition on Lehigh's campus. On the women's side, there will be three top 20 Division I teams with Wisconsin, Princeton and Tennessee all coming. The men's race will feature powerhouses like La Salle and Princeton and the NAIA national champion Virginia Intermont."
Returning teams on the women's side include last year's team champion Columbia and 2005 team champion Tennessee. The Lions took the women's competition last year by scoring 121 points and having its top four finishers place in the top 30--including Lisa Stublic, who place second. Meanwhile, Tennessee finished third with 186 points with Katie Flaute placing ninth overall for the Lady Vols.
The women's side will also feature eight teams that are nationally ranked in their respective divisions as was announced on Monday. Division I teams in attendance will be No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 13 Princeton and No. 18 Tennessee. No. 13 Kutztown will be one of the Division II teams while Division III powers The College of New Jersey (No. 6), Dickinson (No. 15), Ithaca (No. 18) and Haverford (No. 25) will all be in attendance.
For the Mountain Hawks, this will be their first major meet of the season and their last on the Goodman Campus. Senior Jenni Schappert has been the top performer for Lehigh at the Paul Short Run, placing in the top-30 for the last two years. Schappert, who has also paced the Mountain Hawks for their first two races of the season, placed 30th overall as a sophomore and then placed 24th overall last year. Complementing Schappert will be a solid group of six women--including seniors Sarah Seiler and Carolyn House, sophomores Shannon Alejandro and Katie McClernand and freshmen Kaitlin Grimm and Nicole Page.
"We are shooting for a top 10 finish," said Utesch. "The women are stronger and tougher this year. If they are able to put a strong group together, then it is possible."
The men's division will include seven of last year's top ten finishing teams, including runner-up La Salle. There will be seven nationally ranked teams from all three NCAA Divisions competing, including No. 30 Princeton (Division I), Division II's Lock Haven (No. 9) and Shippensburg (No. 20) and Division III's Haverford (No. 3), The College of New Jersey (No. 13), Elizabethtown (No. 16) and SUNY Cortland (No. 29). Additionally, Virginia Intermont, who won back-to-back NAIA National Championships in 2004 and 2005, will be participating in the race.
The Mountain Hawks were tied for 10th last year with Villanova. So far, Lehigh has amounted two convincing wins, sweeping the Lehigh Valley Championships and nearly sweeping rival Lafayette. The Mountain Hawks will have a solid core of runners, with seniors Sean Swift, Victor Vientos and Brendan Glover leading the way.
"The men will have some quality teams to compete against," said Utesch. "Their competition will be a battle as well."
Utesch continue, "For both teams, it will be a meet that plays an important factor regarding regional polls. With the number of regional teams coming, some teams will move up while others move down."
Notably missing from this year's competition will be Georgetown's men's and women's teams. The Georgetown women, who are currently No. 23, placed second as a team last year with Elizabeth Maloy capturing the women's individual championship. On the men's side, the No. 13 Hoyas captured their third straight Paul Short title last year en route to placing its six runners in the top 50.
In the high school division, new meet records were set in both the girls' and boys' varsity races. Warwick Valley's Aislinn Ryan repeated as the individual winner for the girls' race as she completed the course in a blazing time of 17:03. Colts Neck's Craig Forys narrowly beat out West Chester East's Duriel Hardy to claim the boys' individual crown. Forys, who finished just two seconds ahead of Hardy, covered the course in 15:14.
Led by back-to-back eighth and ninth places by Lauren Schmidt and Callie Hogan, respectively, Bay Shore captured the girls' team title with 118 points. Colts Neck took second place with 126 points. The boys' team competition was a bit closer with Cumberland Valley and West Chester East taking the top two team spots. Cumberland Valley beat out West Chester East by two points, scoring 131 compared to West Chester East's 133.
Complete results of the 33rd Brooks Paul Short Run will be available following the meet. Results will be on lehighsports.com as well as the official Paul Short website, which is accessible via the link above.
2006 Brooks Paul Short Run Schedule
2:00 Men's Collegiate 8K
2:45 Women's Collegiate 6K
3:15 Men's Open 8K
4:00 Women's Open 6K
4:30 Boys High School 5K
4:45 College Awards
5:00 Girls High School 5K
5:30 Boys JV 5K
5:35 Girls JV 5K
6:15 High School Awards