Oct. 31, 2009

Central men sixth at league meet

WAVERLY—Angie Berry (senior, Norwalk) placed third to lead the Central College women’s cross country team to a third-place finish at the Iowa Conference meet in Waverly Saturday. The Dutch men placed sixth.  

“Angie has had a great season so far,” said head coach Joe Dunham. “She had a rough junior year, so for her to be running this well in her last season is really great to see.”

Three Central women earned all-conference honors. Berry recorded her second top-three conference finish, placing second in 2007. Seniors Amber Mayer (Essex, Shenandoah HS) and Amy Ledvina (Toledo, South Tama HS) placed ninth (23:39) and twelfth (23:50) respectively to join Berry on the podium. Hannah Anderson (senior, Goodell, Garner-Hayfield HS) was 23rd (24:21), Rachelle Tipton (senior, Newton) was 26th (24:37), Mel McDermott (freshman, Britt, West Hancock HS) was 29th (24:43), and Melanie Louis (sophomore, Davenport, Central HS) finished in 33rd (25:15) to round out Central’s varsity squad.

Dunham was especially pleased with Anderson’s recent comeback.

“Hannah is on her way back,” said Dunham. “After dealing with some setbacks over the last month she is getting back to where she belongs and gained a lot of confidence from the race today.”

The Wartburg women, ranked 19th in the NCAA Division III national polls, won their second straight championship with 39 points. Luther took runner-up honors with 56 points. The Dutch scored 73 points to take third, following by Simpson (87), Loras (110), Cornell (179), Dubuque (207), and Coe (227). Wartburg’s Anna Kraayenbrink finished in a time of 22:49 to take individual honors.

Battling winds up to 20 miles per hour, the women’s race was defined by a slow early pace.

“The wind today forced the field into a tactical race,” said Dunham. “It slowed the race down a lot more than I would have liked. That’s something our women haven’t seen this year and it was difficult for them to respond.”

Tight pack for Central men—Freshman John Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas, Brackenridge HS) was Central’s top finisher for the second straight meet and his time of 27:27 was good for 20th place. Pierre Taylor (senior, Oswego, Ill., Oswego HS) was close behind in 21st (27:29) while Teddy Clark (senior, Montgomery, Ill., Oswego HS) finished a disappointing 29th (27:47) after running in eighth for most of the race.

“Teddy did a great job of establishing himself early and ran a great race for 7,600 meters,” said Dunham. “Unfortunately he couldn’t hang on in the last quarter mile. He really led the team today.”

Andrew Hamer (sophomore, Murray) was 31st (27:54), Austin Vondracek (junior, Swisher, Cedar Rapids Prairie HS) was 35 (28:03), Cody Burkhardt (freshman, Pittsburg, Mo., Hermitage HS) was 41st (28:31), and Cory Fitzsimmons (senior, Pella) was 46th (28:48). The men’s spread between their first and fifth runners was only 36 seconds, easily their lowest of the year.

“I thought the back half of our varsity raced really well today,” said Dunham. “They put it all out there.”

Defending champion Luther, ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III Central region, scored only 28 points to capture the team trophy for the fourth straight year. Runner-up Coe tallied 52 points, followed by Cornell (84), Wartburg (99), Loras (133), Central (136), Simpson (178), Buena Vista (265), and Dubuque (280). Cornell’s Andrew Tobben took the individual title in time of 26:28.

The Dutch will race again Nov. 14 at the NCAA Division III Central Regional meet at the Oakland Acres Golf Course course near Grinnell. The Dutch women were 13th in a 26-team field last year while the men were 18th. The top two teams and top seven individuals from each region will automatically advance to the NCAA national meet in Cleveland, Ohio Nov. 21. Sixteen additional at-large teams will be selected following the meet. Berry is a two-time individual national qualifier for the Dutch.