Kent State: First Track Meet of Indoor

Competing at Kent State on Friday and Saturday represented the culmination of a spectacular season for the cross country team and the launching of the season for the sprinters and jumpers. The distance runners showed why they are a nationally-recognized program with numerous high finishes and PR's in a field that included athletes from Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA schools. Events began on Friday with cross country runners Tony Dipre, Jeramie Parker, Ryan Sullivan, Mike Faix, and Steve Cottington all setting new personal bests in the 5000m. Additionally, freshman Garrett Gleeson dropped almost a minute from his high school time en route to winning his heat of the 5000m. Leading the way in Saturday's events was Ben Eyer, who set new personal bests while finishing in 7th place in the mile and 8th place in the 3000m. Freshmen Anthony Hessel and Greg Eyer also improved on their high school bests in the mile. Not to be outdone, senior jumper Joe McMahon had one of the highest places on the team, finishing 8th in the triple jump.

The women also kicked off their indoor season with the 5000m on Friday. Mia Symoniak showed her fitness and experience with a 6th place finish and a fabulous new PR of 17:57.75. Lynn Simonton and Claire LeMasters also set new bests in the event. On Saturday, Katie Stancik finished 9th in the mile with a time of 5:34.64, while Andrea Patterson also set a new PR in the same event.

In addition to the numerous personal bests, many other athletes hit the conference qualifying marks in their events. In the sprints, Rebecca Lendyak and Taylor Throckmorton met the 200m standard. Taylor also qualified in the 400m. Alex Rowland and Alex Gorski slipped under the 800m time. Sophomore Andrew Mahone joined the list in the mile. The 5k's produced several conference qualifiers, along with the aforementioned PR's, including Rachel Hutchinson, Amber Wetzel, Pat McLaughlin, Chris Corkins, and Jakeb Zimmerman. Vaulter Erich Wittmer and decathlete Pete Sotherland met the pole vault mark. Finally, Joe McMahon also qualified for NCAC's in the long jump.

The team will revisit Kent State for their next meet on January 17th. Meanwhile, athletes will be taking final exams and returning home for the semester break.

Men are Top Ten in the Nation

A freezing cold start and hundreds of talented athletes failed to intimidate the men's cross country team, who finished tenth at the 2008 NCAA championships in Hanover, Indiana. The men's team has run in a tight pack all season, and continued that trend with all five scoring runners finishing with a 56 second spread. Tony Dipre led the team, finishing in 25th place with a 24:52.72 to earn All-American honors. Senior Matt Hoy ended his Allegheny cross country career with an 84th place finish and a time of 25:30.32. Finishing just .14 seconds behind him in 85th place was Zac Ross. A second pack of yellow and blue consisted of Jeramie Parker (127th, 25:46.04), Jakeb Zimmerman (135th, 25:48.11), and Ryan Sullivan (142nd, 25:50.25). Devon Flynnperrault rounded out the top seven, crossing the line in 26:26.64. The team's finish marked the third consecutive year that the men have placed in the top ten in the nation.

After a second place showing at regionals, the Allegheny men were ranked eleventh in the national polls during the week preceding the NCAA championship. Tough running at Hanover gave the men the edge over all of their regional rivals, who were 13th, 14th, and 16th at nationals.

Coming up next, the team will compete at Kent State in their first indoor meet of the season. The cross country athletes will compete in the 5k on Friday night. The long jump will also take place on Friday, followed by the remainder of the events on Saturday.