Final Cross Country Tune-Up Before League Championship

INDIANAPOLIS--This weekend marked the close of the regular season for the Horizon League cross country programs. Next up is the Horizon League Cross Country Championships on Nov. 2 at Boardman High School hosted by Youngstown State.

Results from Friday
Penn State National Invitational
Detroit Men: 3/6
Detroit Women: 7/10

Bradley “Pink” Classic
Milwaukee Men: 10/22
Oakland Men: 11/22
Valparaiso Men: 19/22
Green Bay Men: 22/22
Oakland Women: 9/24
Milwaukee Women: 16/24
Valparaiso: 21/24
Green Bay: 23/24

#JennaStrong Classic
Wright State Men: 2/36
Cleveland State Women: 11/34
Wright State Women: 12/34

Results from Saturday
Indiana State University Pre-National Invitational
Youngstown State Men: 14/20
UIC  Men:  19/20
Youngstown State Women: 9/35
UIC Women:  21/35
Both men and women competed in the “white” race

Penn State National Invitational
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (10/18/2013) -- The Detroit men's cross country team had a pair of runners in the top seven as the Titans earned third at the Penn State National Invitational on Friday.

Junior Ryan Hofsess was the team's top runner on the day as he edged senior teammate Martin Nelkie by four seconds to take sixth in 26:45. Nelkie had finished as the Titans top harrier in all four races heading into this one, but ended up seventh in 26:49. For Nelkie, his time was nearly a minute better than his 27:44 tally at Penn State that he posted as a freshman in 2010.

Detroit recorded 64 points in the 5.2-mile race run at the PSU Blue & White Golf course, the longest race of the year for the team.

Senior Louisa Coppola led four runners with sub 24 6K times as the Detroit women's cross country team placed seventh at the Penn State National Invitational on Friday.

The Titans totaled 178 points in their longest distance race of the year.

Coppola set a new personal record with her fourth top-10 finish of the year running 21:52, three seconds faster then her NCAA Great Lakes Regional time from a year ago. It is also the seventh fastest 6k time in school history and she will enter the Horizon League Championship as Detroit's top runner in all five races, which have all been a top-14 effort.

Men’s Results
Women’s Results

Bradley “Pink” Classic
Peoria, Ill. - Milwaukee men's cross country team combined to post seven personal-record times to close out the regular season on a high note at the Bradley Classic at the Newman Golf Course Friday afternoon.

Milwaukee finished with 275 points for 10th place and was the top Horizon League team at the meet, besting Oakland (11th, 278 points), Valparaiso (19th, 557) and Green Bay (22nd, 613). Host Bradley won the race with 82 points.

Milwaukee had all 10 of its runners finished just 1:03 apart. Gerrit Bruni led the way for the Panthers by finishing 42nd overall at 25:27, a new personal record.

Ten runners posted personal-record times as the Milwaukee women's cross country team posted another strong showing.

The Panthers finished with 396 points for 16th place overall out of 24 teams. Missouri won the meet with 65 points.

Freshman Ally Anich led the way for Milwaukee, taking 14th place overall with a finishing time of 21:31, a new personal best on the 6K course.

For Oakland, Bryce Stroede finished in 24th place with a time of 25:05 while Sammy Mondry continued to pace the Golden Grizzly women with a 27th place finish in 21:44.

The Golden Grizzly men earned an 11th place finish overall and the women broke the top ten with a ninth-place team ranking.

"Today was a very good indicator of where we stand going into the next two weeks," commented head coach, Paul Rice. “I am very proud of all of these athletes and the hard work we have put in this season. I am really looking forward to sharing the experience of our first ever Horizon League Championships with these kids."

Valparaiso women's cross country finished in 21st place while the men's team managed a 19th-place finish.

Junior Jessica Richardson led all Crusaders. Richardson seized 32nd place out of 200 runners as she completed the 6K course in 21:51. Senior Claire Johnson clocked in at 23:14 which earned her a 129th-place finish overall.

On the men's side, junior David Rutkowski led all Valparaiso runners in the 8K race with a time of 26:04 to finish in 107th place. Senior Matt Przybyla garnered a second-place team finish with his time of 26:15.

The Phoenix men placed 22nd and were led by Dalton Woodworth who placed 146th. The sophomore completed the men's 8K course in a time of 26:36.

Sarah Mauel continued to lead the Phoenix women. The sophomore ran the women's 6K course in 22:02, good for 46th place. As a team, the Phoenix placed 23rd.

Men’s Results
Women’s Results

#JennaStrong Classic
The Cleveland State cross country team had four runners post career-best times and two top-50 finishes in a field of almost 400 runners at the #JennaStrong Classic (Wilmington Fall Classic). Wilmington officially changed the name to #JennaStrong Fall Classic to honor junior Jenna Parlette who passed away in August.

"It was a great day to run, and it was a great tune-up for the league meet," head coach Joe Jaketic said.

The Vikings were paced by Tori Holt and Ashlyn Woods who each placed in the top-50 at Friday's race. Holt posted a career-best 5K time of 19:11 to finished 26th overall, while Woods placed 43rd in a time of 19:25. Holt's 5K time landed her ninth on the all-time top performances list at CSU, and Woods' time ranks her 24th all-time.

For Wright State, Senior Dan Shafer ended in second-place with a time of 25:02 to lead the Raider men while Rachel Janson finished 38th to pace the Raider women with a time of 19:20.

Men’s and Women’s Results

Indiana State University Pre-National Invitational
Youngstown State and UIC participated in the Pre-National Invitational this Saturday afternoon at Indiana State. For the Penguins, the women finished ninth out of 35 teams and the men finishing 14th out of 20 teams. Hamilton led the women for Youngstown State finishing third while Eric Rupe was the top performer for the Penguins placing ninth.

Hamilton and Anna Pompeo made history with record setting performances in the Women 6k White Race running the top two fastest times ever for Youngstown State. Hamilton ran the fastest time of 20:41 for the Penguins to place an impressive third overall out of 226 runners while Pompeo came in tenth at a time of 21:22.

Eric Rupe led the Penguin men with his ninth place finish and personal best 8K time of 25:01 in the Men’s White Race. This is Rupes' second week in a row with a personal best time. The next Penguin to finish was sophomore Austin McLean sneaking in the top 20 by two seconds placing 19th out of 135 runners at a time of 25:24.

For UIC, the men secured a 19th place finish while the women’s squad finished in 21st place.

In the women’s 6K race, junior Tess Ehrhardt clocked in at 21:31.70, earning 17th place.  Ehrhardt has been the class of the Horizon League recently, collecting three consecutive conference Runner of the Week awards.  Teammates Emma Preston and Rebecca Zaiter placed within the top-100 runners with times of 22:36.17 and 22:41.43, respectively.

“Tess turned in another phenomenal effort in a national caliber field,” said head coach Jim Knoedel.  “Her time was the fastest ever by a UIC Flame.”

The men were paced by Photis Karkalis (25:59.57) and Arash Darbandi (26:14.35) who placed 49th and 69th, respectively, in the 8K race.  Other contributors on the day included Kyle Hauser (26:25.72) and Thomas Kohs (27:15.44).

Men’s & Women’s Results