Oct. 28, 2003
The American men and women are looking to defend their Patriot League Cross Country titles at the League's 2003 Cross Country Championships taking place at Lafayette's Metzgar Field Course Saturday, November 1.
The men's race will kick off the festivities at 11 a.m., while the women's race will commence at noon. The women's course is a 6,000-meter trek and the men's is 8,000-meters. The top 10 individual finishers will earn first-team All-League status, while those student-athletes finishing 11-20 will gain second-team all-star accolades.
The men's field is wide open with the graduation of 2002 champion Brian Johnston of Bucknell and 14 All-League performers back in the fold from last year's League meet. Defending champion American was the pre-season pick to repeat, followed closely by Navy, Army and Bucknell.
The Eagles have a solid base with a League-best six all-stars returning, including five first-teamers. Headlining the AU charge will be senior Matt Seymour (Rockville, Md.), who finished second at the 2002 PL meet. Seymour, a two-time PL Men's Runner of the Week, has been solid for the Eagles this year with a pair of indivdual titles this season.
American will also rely on seniors Matt Cooke (Washington, D.C.) and Frank Malpigli (Bay Shore, N.Y.), juniors Sean Duffy (Holmes, Pa.) and Pat McAdie (Acton, Mass.) and sophomore Phil Gaeta (Herndon, Va.). Cooke, Malpigli, Duffy and McAdie were first-team All-League performers last year, while Gaeta earned second-team honors with a 19th-place finish in 2002.
Navy is led by sophomore Joshua Sink (Welcome, N.C.) and senior Eric Eckstrand (Wilmington, Del.). Sink was the Men's Runner of the Week on Sept. 16 after finishing second at the highly competitive Great American Legends Race in Raleigh, N.C. Eckstrand, the team captain, has been among the top four Mids to cross the finish in each race this season.
Six-time Patriot League champion Army will depend heavily on sophomore Phil Sakala (Las Cruces, N.M.) as well as seniors Aaron Smead (Mosca, Colo.), Ahren Reiter (Rock Springs, Wyo.) and Seth Chappell (Anchorage, Alaska). Sakala was a first-team selection a year ago with a seventh-place finish in the League meet. In 2003, he claimed the individual title in the annual Star meet against Navy.
Smead, Reiter and Chappell were also second-team honorees last year with finishes in the Top 20 at the League meet. Smead just missed out on first-team accolades after coming in 11th, while Reiter and Chappell crossed the finish line 15th and 16th, respectively. Junior Eric Heely (Clouis, Calif.) was also a second-team all-star with a 12th-place outing at the 2002 PL Championship.
Bucknell, which has won six PL crowns, is led by Stephen Schaefer (Avon by the Sea, N.J.), who is the lone returning All-Leaguer for the Bison. The senior finished 18th at last year's Patriot League meet. Another notable returnee is graduate student Greg Costello (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Costello was an NCAA participant and All-League performer in 2001, but missed most of last year with a leg injury.
Colgate will look to improve on a fourth-place team finish from 2002 with the return of all-stars Louis Di Nuzzo (Loudonville, N.Y.) and Xavier de Boissezon (Geneva, Switzerland). Di Nuzzo took home first-team honors at last year's League meet with a sixth-place outing, while de Boissezon was a second-team choice after coming in 17th. de Boissezon has been solid this season for CU with three first-place finishes and two PL Runner of the Week honors. The senior was also the individual champion at the Leopard Invitational Oct. 18, which took place on the League's Championship course.
Leading the Lehigh charge are junior Mark Swanson (Doylestown, Pa.) and sophomore Rob Hampson (Holland, Pa.). Swanson, who was 29th at last year's championship, was the Sept. 9 Runner of the Week after winning the winning the Lehigh Valley Championships. Hampson, the 32nd-place finisher at the 2002 PL meet, was the Sept. 30 Runner of the Week for top five performances at the Monmouth Invitational and LU's annual dual meet with Lafayette.
Senior Randy Brodeur (Lowell, Mass.) is the top returnee for Holy Cross. Broduer hopes to improve on a 36th-place outing at last year's Championship. Lafayette, this year's host, will rely on sophomore Kevin Penderghest (Lindenwood, N.J.), who was LC's top finisher at the 2002 PL meet (54th).
On the women's side, there are several teams and individuals looking for the crown. In the pre-season poll, the voters predicted that Army would win the team title, but expected American, Bucknell and Navy to challenge for team honors.
Army has taken home the Patriot League crown four times in the 13-year history of the League, but the last title came during the 1997 campaign. The Black Knights are led by first-team All-League performers Ashley Urick (Carmel, Ind.) and Alexis Seefeldt (Mifflinburg, Pa.). Urick crossed the finish line fifth a year ago, while Seefeldt came in seventh at the 2002 Championship. Urick, who is a three-time Runner of the Week, has been solid this season with two individual titles, including a win in the Oct. 18 meet against Navy.
The Black Knights will also rely on junior Stephanie Richardson (Rapid City, S.D.) and sophomore Jill Hajec (Camden, Del.) in order to return to West Point with the PL crown. Richardson was a second-team all-star thanks to her 11th-place finish at the Championship, while Hajec claimed second-team honors by crossing the line 15th.
American's title defense is tougher because of the graduation of 2002 individual champion and NCAA Championship participant Samia Akbar. However, the Eagles still have several weapons in their arsenal with the return of first-team All-Leaguers Jen Baclawski (Ijamsville, Md.), Keira Carlstrom (Oakton, Va.) and Whitney McNees (Pennington, N.J.).
Baclawski finished third in the 2002 Championship meet with a time of 22:42.99, while Carlstrom crossed the finish line on Baclawski's heels to come in fourth last year. Carlstrom has continued to impress in 2003 with a pair of Runner of the Week selections to her name. McNees posted a ninth-place outing at the PL meet a year ago.
Bucknell had its streak of four-straight PL titles snapped with a runner-up finish at the 2002 League meet. The Bison tout the return of four all-stars from last season, including first-team honoree Allison Cole (Waterville, Maine). As a freshman, Cole was eighth in the Championship with a time of 23:23.00. Other notable returnees include second-team all-stars Katie Pfeifer (Cantonsville, Md.), Jamie Gow (Brookline, N.H.) and Kayla Halloran (Norwell, Mass.). The newest addition to the Bison lineup is freshman Leanna Nastase (Beaverdale, Pa.), who was the Sept. 9 Runner of the Week after a four-place performance in the University of Detroit Invitational.
This season marks the first time since the 1993 campaign that the Navy Midshipmen will be participating in the women's cross country Championship. The Mids are led by senior captain Colleen Maloney (Canton, Ohio) and freshman Emily Castro (Centennial, Colo.). Maloney posted Top 10 finishes in several meets during her freshman and sophomore seasons and finished last year's Heptagonal Championship in a time of 20:03.4. Castro was the Runner of the Week on Sept. 23 after being the first Midshipman across the line at the Hawaii Big Wave Invitational in 16th spot.
With the graduation of two All-League performers, senior Chrissy Boyd (Media, Pa.) and junior Andrea Luebbe (Bozeman, Mont.) will likely lead Lehigh's charge toward the title. Boyd will look to improve on a 35th-place finish at last year's Championship, while Luebbe is LU's best returning finisher from the 2002 League meet with a 27th-place performance.
Lafayette hopes for improved performances from sophomore captain Mary Gillis (Cornwall, N.Y.) and fellow second-year runner Bonnie Kretchik (Wyoming, Pa.) at this year's PL meet. Gills crossed the line 32nd at the 2002 Championship, while Kretchik was 23rd.
Colgate will rely on sophomore Lia Cross (Skaneateles, N.Y.), who was a second-team All-League performer with a 12th-place outing at the 2002 Patriot League Championship. Holy Cross will look to junior Elizabeth Desmond (Portland, Maine) for a solid performance. She was the first HC runner to cross the line at the 2002 Championship meet in 26th position.