Salisbury men finish fourth, women sixth at Gettysburg Invitational

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Salisbury University men's and women's cross country teams had great team performances at the Gettysburg Invitational on Saturday hosted by Gettysburg College. The Sea Gulls earned top six finishes in both races on the day against tough and large fields.

Salisbury placed fourth out of 19 teams in the men's 8K race as the team earned 128 points. Johns Hopkins University won the race as it tallied the lowest score with 77 points. Gettysburg College placed second with 90 points and the United States Coast Guard Academy was right behind in third with 96 points.

SU was led by junior Travis Boccher who finished in 12th place with a time of 26:12. Senior Zack Dickerson, the reigning CAC Cross Country Men's Athlete of the Week, finished in 21st place with a time of 26:30. Dickerson was closely followed by sophomore Sam Boimov (23rd, 26:33) and sophomore Chris Barnard (25th, 26:24). The scoring for SU was rounded out by junior Bill Nastasiak (47th, 27:05).

"The guys started out kind of slow today," said SU coach Jim Jones. "Sam (Boimov) and Chris (Barnard) fell behind early in the race but caught up with Zack (Dickerson) at the end."

On the women's side, the maroon and gold finished sixth out of 21 teams as the Sea Gulls tallied 229 points. Johns Hopkins won the women's 6K race, as well, with a score of 70 points. Haverford (Pa.) College finished second with 80 points. The top five was rounded out by Susquehanna University (101 points), Gettysburg (131), and Ursinus College (204).

Sophomore Masha Berge led the way for SU in 24th place finish with a time of 24:02. Sophomore Kristin Stromberg finished in 35th place with a time of 24:13. The rest of the Sea Gull scoring came from senior Jenn Bulger (42nd, 24:26), senior Amy DeMichele (54th, 24:40) and freshman Emily Powell (85th, 25:18).  

"The women are continuing to run well," said Jones. "Masha did a great job today and we are progressing on a good level right now."

This was the last meet before the 2008 Capital Athletic Conference championship which will be held on Saturday, November 1, hosted by University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. The Salisbury men have won three straight CAC crowns and the women are looking to win their fourth title in the past five years. The Sea Gulls have 11 combined CAC titles in the program's history.

Gettysburg Invitational

• Men's Results (PDF)
• Women's Results (PDF)