Pierre Taylor Nov. 1, 2008

Dutch men take sixth at conference meet

STORM LAKE—Jess Clark (senior, Riverdale, Ill., Port Byron HS) and Pierre Taylor (junior, Oswego, Ill.) continued to lead the Central College runners at the Iowa Conference cross country meet Saturday in Storm Lake as the women’s team placed fourth and the men came in sixth. “We ran okay today,” said Central coach Steven Fyfe. “At a conference meet you’d like to step up and run really well. I don’t think we did that. I think we came out and ran good, but not great.”      

Fyfe said that the courses, which ran shorter than the advertised 6,000 and 8,000 meters for the women and men, respectively, did not suit the Central runners well.

“The courses were very flat,” he said. “Not a hill in sight, and it’s not the kind of course that we race really well on.”

The Wartburg women, ranked first in the NCAA Division III Central region, knocked off defending conference champion Luther with 28 points. Luther finished second with 49,  followed by Loras (90), Central (109), Simpson (136), Cornell (147), Coe (177), Dubuque (267) and Buena Vista (277).

Clark earned all-conference honors finishing 15th in 21:41.94. Angie Berry (junior, Norwalk), second a year ago, was 19th in 21:55.03, Amber Mayer (junior, Essex, Shenandoah HS) was 22nd (22:03.38), Amy Ledvina (junior, Toledo, South Tama HS) was 26th (22:22.21), Hannah Anderson (junior, Goodell, Garner-Hayfield HS) was 27th (22:23.35), Connie Eshelman (senior, Bridgewater, Nodaway Valley HS) was 37th  (23:14.70) and Melanie Louis (freshman, Davenport, Central HS) was 39th (23:16.94).

“Amber Mayer ran another good strong race today,” said Fyfe. “She sort of broke out two weeks ago, so it was nice to see her stay at that level and not step back.”

Taylor stays in front of the pack—By crossing the line in 25:19.52, placing 22nd overall, Taylor has managed to lead Central runners in every race this season.

The men’s squad turned in a score of 170 points, good for sixth place behind conference champion Luther (48), Loras (59), Coe (67), Simpson with (81) and Wartburg (114). Rounding out the field were Cornell (208), Dubuque (255) and Buena Vista (274).

Brandon Williams (senior, Coralville, Iowa Mennonite HS) was the second Central runner to finish, taking 31st place in 25:42.46, Derek Townsend (senior, Perry) was 35th  (25:52.19), Jaron Byrum (senior, New London) was 38th (25:56.54), Tyler Husak (senior, Tama, South HS) was 44th (26:28.02), James Armstead (senior, Greenfield, Nodaway Valley HS) 45th (26:31.87) and Andrew Hamer (freshman, Murray) was 48th (26:52.02).

“Brandon Williams ran very well today and he’s been very consistent all year long which has been important,” said Fyfe.

Central will race again Nov. 15 at the NCAA Division III Central Regional meet near Grinnell. The Dutch women were 11th in a 23-team regional field last year while the men were 17th. Team and individual berths to the NCAA national meet in Hanover, Ind. Nov. 22 will be on the line. Berry is a two-time individual national qualifier for the Dutch.