October 14, 2006 - Women 10th, Men 11th at Lafayette

October 14, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Cross Country
Rider Women 10th, Men 11th at Lafayette

EASTON, PA— The Broncs competed at the Leopard Invitational Saturday, hosted by Lafayette. “The women ran real well today,” said Rider coach Bob Hamer. “They executed the race plan pretty much to perfection. They really did a great job. The men got out well but we didn’t run the middle of the race as well as I would have liked.  The conditions were perfect for cross country. A little crisp and no wind.  You couldn’t have ordered a better day.”

For the Rider women, sophomore Andrea Campbell (Somers Point/Mainland Regional) was first among the Broncs, 33rd overall, covering the 5.8k course in 22:11.  “The race went pretty well,” said Campbell. “I was pretty satisfied. I ran about a minute faster than I did last year, so it was a good improvement. I felt good in the beginning, we got out well, and I had a good sprint left at the end.”

For the Rider men, junior John Smith (Cliffwood Beach/Matawan) placed first for Rider, 32nd overall among the 130 runners, covering the 5.0 mile course in 26:47. “The race did not go as well as I thought it would,” said Smith, who looks to become an All-MAAC cross country runner for the third straight year in Rider’s next meet, the conference championships.  “I try to concentrate on one meet at a time, I wasn’t thinking ahead to the MAACs. I wanted to focus on doing as well as I can and hopefully learn something from today, like every race. I went out really well and I finished okay, but I need to work a little bit on the middle of the race.”

“The plan was to pick it up in the middle but we didn’t pick it up enough,” said Hamer. “We ran hard to the finish line and went by some people that we felt we should have already been ahead of.”

Also for the Rider women, sophomore Kelly Wojciehowski (Fair Haven/Rumson Fair Haven) was 44th overall in 22:26, freshman Kelsey Kohler (Southampton, PA/St. Basil's) was 61st in 22:56, sophomore Megan Crowe (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert's) was 66th in 23:02, and freshman Lauren Lester (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) finished 90th in 23:42.

“Our gap one through four was only 51 seconds, which was a tremendous improvement,” Hamer said of his women’s finish. “This really sets us up well for the MAAC championships and gives us a shot to finish as high as we’ve ever finished.”

Also for the Rider men, junior Jeff Stead (Fairless Hills, PA/Pennsbury) was 40th in 27:01, sophomore Matt Dahl (West Keansburg/Raritan) was 50th in 27:20, junior Ryan Donohue (Freehold) was 80th in 28:00, and junior TJ Weston (Toms River North) placed 98th in 28:36.

“This was our last race before the MAAC Championships, and hopefully we’ve learned enough to put together a good race strategy and attack the MAAC meet and finish in the top four,” Hamer said.

Rider competes at the MAAC Championship October 27 at Van Cortlandt State Park in New York. “I feel comfortable going into the MAACs since I had some success on this course earlier this year,” Campbell said. Campbell ran at Van Cortlandt in the first race of the season and finished first among the Broncs in 20:24.

Team standings:
Women: Pennsylvania, Columbia, Princeton, Kutztown, St. Joseph’s, Binghamton, Lafayette, Lehigh, Rutgers, Rider, Saint Peter’s, Bucknell, Seton Hall

Men: Pennsylvania, Columbia, Stony Brook, La Salle, St. Joseph’s, Lehigh, Rutgers, Binghamton, Kutztown, Lafayette, Rider, Saint Peter’s, Seton Hall, Bucknell

-RU-