Angie Berry Sept. 5, 2009

Berry leads women to title

PELLA—Competing on her home course for her last time, Angie Berry (senior, Norwalk) led the Central College women’s cross country team to a convincing first-place finish at the Central Dutch Invitational Saturday morning while the men’s squad took third.  

Berry’s time of 18:30 set a new personal best and was 22 seconds faster than she ran last year. She was 26 seconds ahead of the runner-up in a field of 103. The Dutch scored only 25 points to take team honors. Conference rival Simpson took second with 58 points while Iowa Central was third with 75 in the six-team field.

“It’s exciting to see Angie run where her potential is,” said head coach Joe Dunham. “She had a down season last year but she’s got things rolling this fall. We’ve got high expectations for her.”

Central placed five runners in the top 10, including three more seniors. Hannah Anderson (senior, Goodell, Garner-Hayfield HS ), Amy Ledvina (senior, Toledo, South Tama HS), and Amber Mayer (senior, Essex, Shenandoah HS) finished third (19:19), fifth (19:28), and sixth (19:29), respectively, while freshmen Jenna Broghamer (Iowa City, West HS) was tenth (20:14). Rachelle Tipton (senior, Newton) and Mel McDermott (freshman, Britt, Garner-Hayfield HS) rounded out the varsity squad, finishing in 20st (20:22) and 21st (20:23), respectively.

Hannah Anderson“Probably the most exciting thing about the race was the women’s pack,” Dunham said. “Our coaching staff has emphasized pack running since the beginning of the season. It was encouraging to see them go out there and do it so well.”

“That was the best I’ve seen our women’s team execute their race plan,” said associate head coach Stephen Fyfe. “They really set the bar high for this season.”

Clark tops men--Senior Teddy Clark (Oswego, Ill.) led the Central men with a fifth place (20:00) finish. Clark led over half the race and was in second place until he faded to fifth over the final uphill stretch.

Junior Austen Vondracek (Swisher, Cedar Rapids Prarie HS) was the second Dutch runner across the line in 20:23 (11th). Andrew Hamer (sophomore, Murray) was 16th (20:48), Pierre Taylor (senior, Oswego, Ill.) was 25th (21:14), and John Gonzalez (freshman, San Antonio, Texas, Brackenridge, HS) was 28th (21:32) to round out Central’s top five. 

“It was nice to see John (Gonzalez) and Austen (Vondracek) run so well. Those are two guys that we’re really going to be relying on this year,” said Dunham.

Iowa Central led a six-team field with 34 points while Simpson took second with 47. The Central men placed third with 85 points. Liberio Niyiragira of Iowa Central was the individual winner in a time of 19:36.

Fyfe was disappointed with the men’s result but remain optimistic about the rest of season.

“We’re a young team and it was a learning experience,” said Fyfe. “In the big picture this is just a hiccup. The guys know what they have to do.”

Both teams will have next weekend off and are headed to Northfield, Minn. on Sept. 19 for the St. Olaf (Minn.) Invitational.