Cross Country: WVU To Run This Weekend
November 21, 2008 12:25 PM | General
November 21, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University No. 5 cross country ‘A’ team will travel to the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championship to take place on Nov. 24, in Terre Haute, Ind., while the ‘B’ team will travel to Bronx, N.Y., to run in the ECAC Championships on Nov. 22.
With the win at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional race on Nov. 15, WVU automatically qualified for the NCAA National Championships. This will be the first back-to-back appearances for the Mountaineers at nationals. WVU has made a total of four previous appearances at nationals: 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2007.
“What’s fantastic about our program is that five of the seven runners have run in this race before. The only two that have not are Jessica O’Connell and Ahna Lewis,” comments Coach Sean Cleary. “If they run the way we’ve been running all year, and I think if things go well, I think we’ll come out with a trophy. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Runners Marie-Louise Asselin, Keri Bland, Kaylyn Christopher, Clara Grandt, Kate Harrison, Ahna Lewis and Jessica O’Connell will make up the seven-member WVU team. A total of 31 teams will participate with seven members each, and an additional 38 at-large selection runners will run the race for a total of 255 participants.
Last year WVU placed ninth at the NCAA’s. Asselin finished 14th with a time of 20:39, while Bland was the second Mountaineer to cross in 23rd at 20:58. Asselin and Bland were named first team All-Americans, marking the first time the program had ever had multiple All-Americans in the same year.
The WVU ‘B’ team will run in the ECAC Championships on Nov. 22. Runners Alison Spiker, Karly Hamric, Brooke Boening, Stephanie Caruso, Jamie Cokeley, Kerry Davis and Erica Arthurs will run in Van Cortlandt Park, the same course where the BIG EAST Championships took place.
