Oct. 11, 2008

Taylor continues to lead Dutch

WAVERLY—All seven Central College runners turned in season-best times as the Dutch women’s cross country team finished fourth in the 12-team Dan Huston Invitational Saturday. The Dutch men were ninth in an 11-team field.  

Jess Clark (senior, Riverdale, Ill., Port Byron HS) was 12th in 23:17 on the 6,000-meter Wartburg College course. Angie Berry (junior, Norwalk) followed in 16th (23:22) with Amber Mayer (junior, Essex) 32nd (24:01), Hannah Anderson (junior, Goodell, Garner-Hayfield HS) 37th (24:21), Amy Ledvina (junior, Tama, South Tama HS) 38th (24:24), Connie Eshelman (senior, Bridgewater, Nodaway Valley HS) 49th and Claudia Garcia (sophomore, Iowa City) 53rd (25:08).

Host Wartburg, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III Central Region, rolled to first place with 43 points. Wis.-La Crosse, the second-rated team in the Midwest Region, had 80 points and St. Olaf College (Minn.), seventh in the Central Region, was third with 95.

The Dutch, 10th in the Central Region, had 135 points with Wis.-Platteville next at 149.

Taylor leads men again—The top three finishers for the Central men also had season-best efforts. Pierre Taylor (junior, Oswego, Ill.) was first for the Dutch again, placing 25th in 26:57 on the 8,000-meter course. Derek Townsend (senior, Perry) was 42nd (27:41), Brandon Williams (senior, Coralville, Iowa Mennonite HS) was 47th (27:47), Jaron Byrum (senior, New London) was 57th (28:14), Andrew Hamer (freshman, Murray) was 66th (28:43), James Armstead (senior, Greenfield, Nodaway Valley HS) was 69th (28:53) and Tyler Husak (senior, Tama, South Tama HS) was 70th (28:55). Hamer and Armstead also turned in season bests.

Wis.-La Crosse took the team title with 43 points. Augustana College (Ill.) followed with 62. Central had 237.

Central takes on a talented field at the Jim Drews/Tori Neubauer Classic next Saturday at West Salem, Wis. The meet is conducted by the Univ. of Wis.-La Crosse. Central’s women were 13th of 27 teams last year in the Neubauer meet while the Dutch men were 20th of 25 teams in the Drews race.

"I challenged the team this week to take a risk in the middle of the race," coach Stephen Fyfe said. "I said that we need to take some risks to find out how good we can be.  I think several people did that today.  I'm looking forward to going to La Crosse next weekend.  We are nearing the championship season and we should start to see our times dropping."

It’s the last competition for both Central squads before the Iowa Conference meet is staged at Storm Lake Nov. 1.