Nov. 11, 2006

Central's Wolf gains NCAA berth

NORTHFIELD , MINN. -Senior Adam Wolf (Corning) automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III national cross country championships Saturday, placing eighth in a time of 25:53.05 and earning all-Central Regional honors.  

Competing on a frozen 8,000 meter course at St. Olaf College that received more than seven inches of snow Friday, Wolf's time was 15 seconds behind the winner (25:37.6) and placed him fourth among Iowa Conference competitors in the 164-runner field.

Wolf's race plan took a conservative approach, starting in 20th place in the first mile and slowly moving up to 15th with a mile left before surging towards the front.

"I was in contention (for an individual berth) the whole time," said Wolf. "I just tried to stay comfortable and started to pick it up with a mile left."

"It was very gratifying to see Adam run a race like that near the end of his cross country career," said assistant coach Stephen Fyfe .

Joe Jefferson (senior, Decorah) was the second Dutch runner across the line in 37th (26:50.75), narrowly missing all-region honors awarded to the top 35 finishers. Brian Respeliers (senior, Council Bluffs, St. Albert HS) finished in 53rd (27:05.6), Jaron Byrum (sophomore, Mount Union, New London HS) was 84th (27:46.95), Pierre Taylor (freshman, Oswego, Ill.) finished in a career-best 27:49.05 (89th), Brett Jones (senior, Knoxville) was 96th (28:04.95), and Teddy Clark (sophomore, Oswego, Ill.) finished in 109th (28:47.05).

The Dutch men placed ninth with 271 points in the 23-team regional field for the second consecutive year. Hamline ( Minn. ) took the men's title with 76 points.

Meanwhile, freshman Angie Berry (Norwalk) earned all-Central Regional honors with a 13th place finish and put herself in contention for a trip to the NCAA championships. Under the new qualification standards, those individuals not automatically qualified must wait until Sunday evening for the at-large fields to be announced. Berry's career-best time of was 23:05.47 put her 1:28 behind the winner (21:37.82) and third among conference competitors in the 160-runner field.

After several stellar early season meets, Berry 's recent performances were affected by illness.

"The last few competitions I had a tough time in the last half of the race, so I tried to be more consistent today," said Berry . "I started off a little faster than I wanted to, but I kept my focus. I think being mentally tougher in the second half of the race made the difference."

"It was great the way Angie bounced back after the last few meets," said Fyfe. "We're very optimistic that she'll get in (the national meet)."

Jess Clark (sophomore, Port Byron , Ill. , Riverdale HS) was the second Dutch finisher in 69th (24:22.47). Amber Mayer (freshman, Shenandoah, Essex, HS) was 87th (24:44.72), Amy Ledvina (freshman, Toledo , South Tama HS) finished in 97th (24:57.47), Rachelle Tipton (freshman, Newton ) was 124th (25:49.92), and Kelsey Tompkins (freshman, Webster City ) finished in 128th (25:59.67).

The Dutch women placed 14th with 390 points in the 23-team regional field. It marks their best finish since 2002 where they placed 12th. Grinnell took the women's team title with 48 points.

"This was one of the most complete races we've had for both teams all season," said Fyfe. "It was great to see them compete the way they did today."

The national meet at Wilmington , Ohio next Saturday includes 32 teams and 56 individuals. The top two teams from each region plus 16 at-large teams will advance along with the top seven runners from each regional not on a qualified team.

The last Central runner at the men's championship was Andy Goodman, who finished 21st in 1994. Beth Cunningham was the most recent Central women's representative, finishing 20th in 2004.