Angie Berry Sept. 1, 2007

Central grabs second in own meet

PELLA—Making their lone home appearance to kick off the season, the Central College men’s and women’s cross country teams each placed second in seven-team fields at the Central Invitational Saturday.

The Dutch women placed four runners in the top eight and five in the top 11 but were edged in the team standings by Simpson College, 32-35. Iowa Central was third with 75 and Grand View had 101. Iowa Central freshman Joyce Cheruiyot covered the 5,000-meter Central course in 18:48 for a 47-second victory. Central’s returning NCAA Division III meet qualifier Angie Berry (sophomore, Norwalk) was third in 19:37. Amy Ledvina (sophomore, Toledo, South Tama HS) was sixth (19:52), with Jess Clark (junior, Port Byron, Ill., Riverdale HS) in seventh (19:53), Amber Mayer (sophomore, Essex, Shenandoah HS) in eighth (19:56), Rachelle Tipton (sophomore, Newton) in 11th (20:17), Molly Van Holten (freshman, Walnut, Ill., Bureau Valley HS) in 15th (20:28) and Hannah Anderson (junior, Goodell, Garner-Hayfield HS) completing the top seven, finishing 19th (20:46).

“They did what we asked, they came out and competed,” said coach David Paulsen.“It was a good warm-up race for us, especially having a tricky first couple of weeks of practice with all the heat and bad weather. I thought the top four ran strong together and we had a couple of freshmen run better than expected, which was nice to see.”

Paulsen, who joined the Dutch staff in January, was making his debut as Central’s cross country coach.

“This was the first time I’d seen our runners competing on the cross country course,” he said. “It was good to see them in a racing element. Now we can start working on things like race strategy as we go from here.”

Ungs opens strong—Central got an encouraging showing from Chase Ungs (senior, Ames, Gilbert HS), who has persevered through an injury-plagued career that saw him sidelined much of the past two years. He placed fifth in 20:02 on the 6,000-meter course.

“We’re glad to have Chase back,” Paulsen said. “That was a solid effort.”

Iowa Central claimed three of the top-four spots to win with 28 points to Central’s 61. Simpson followed with 80 points with Grand View at 119. Iowa Central freshman Stephen Dak finished in a meet- and course-record 18:46.

Jaron Byrum (junior, Mount Union, New London HS) was 10th (20:16), Teddy Clark (junior, Montgomery, Ill., Oswego HS) was 11th (20:17), Pierre Taylor (sophomore, Oswego, Ill.) was 12th (20:18), Austin Vondracek (freshman, Swisher, Cedar Rapids Prairie HS) was 24th (21:03), Tyler Husak (junior, Montour, South Tama HS) was 26th (21:11), and Corey Fitzsimmons (sophomore, Pella) was 32nd (21:32).

“Jaron Byrum is going to get stronger as the distance goes up,” Paulsen said. “Teddy Clark and Pierre Taylor did a good job of running together and helping each other out. They’re only going to get better from here.”        

Central moves up to standard distance races next Saturday at the Les Duke Invitational at Oakland Acres, hosted by Grinnell College. Central’s men finished third in a nine-team field in the 8,000-meter race last year while the Dutch women were also third in a 6,000-meter race.

“The competition will be better and the field will be a lot deeper,” Paulsen said. “It will be good to get in the mix and see how we do.”

Complete Central Invitational college and high school results are available on the Central athletics Web site at www.central.edu/athletics.