Mountaineer Harriers Run Into Stiff Competition at Nationals
KENOSHA, Wisc. - With a return to the historic course (site of over 20 previous NAIA National Championships) in Kenosha, the Mounties took on this tough course as well as fast, deep fields.
The Mountie men ran the first race of the day on Saturday and despite several fine performances, had a rough day over all. The men's field was a deep, competitive field this year. EOU ended up 19th.
Individually, Zach Heath got a strong start, faded after 2.75 miles and then rallied well over the last 800 meters to finish first for EOU. Josh Ego started strong and worked his way up throughout the race to finish 2nd for EOU and close out his college career with one of the best races of his life.
Adam Goulet started well and held on pretty well, especially for an 800 meter specialist on the track. He finished 3rd for EOU. Cam Starner was the 4th man on the day. Cam started out with Josh Ego and held onto Josh for about 2 miles and faded over the last three.
Morgan Saltenberger overcame a poor start to run the 2nd half of the race very well and finish 5th for EOU. Doug Benson opened with Josh Ego and Cam Starner and faded hard over the last three miles and was nipped by Morgan at the line to finish 6th for EOU.
Troy Blackburn, after a mild start, moved steadily up through the pack to run as EOU's number one man for about a mile until 600 meters to go when the cramp that hindered him at the 2006 Region meet showed up again and he limped in as EOU's #7 man...a rough way to end a college career for a very fine young man.
While the 12th ranked Mounties ended the season on a disappointing note, they came a long way this year to return to the National meet after a 2 year absence and should feel good about the season...and hungry for more down the road.
The Mountaineer women had a similar finish, different race. While the 16th ranked EOU women finished 22nd, they ran about as well and in some cases better than they did at the Regional Meet. In the end, they were not quite able to overcome the gaps in the team time to grab a higher finish.
Individually, Marcella Bosch led the team with a strong performance. Last year she finished in the 70's, and well out of All-American, this year she finished 42nd and only 8 seconds back from All- American status.
Stephanie Windle, in her 4th and final appearance at the National CC meet, had her best performance at Nationals as she came across the line just two spots back of Marcella.
Sara Bates overcame a slow start to finish strongly in her final CC meet to finish third for the Mounties. Chelsee Harmon had her best race of the season to finish the year on a high note while Christy Pletan held on to finish as EOU's #5 in a strong effort. Katie Clapp also ran what was most likely her best race of the year.
400 meter specialist Dani Murphy had a tough time with the hill at the start of the race but ran well over all.
All in all, while they did not finish were they had hoped, both teams should feel good about the year, especially after missing out on this meet last year.