Season comes to close as men finish 11th, women 20th at the Mideast Regionals
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Salisbury University men's cross country team finished 11th for the second straight year and the women's team finished 20th in the final standings at the 2009 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional, hosted by Muhlenburg College, on Saturday morning. SU's men's program collected 372 points against 51 teams, and the women's team accumulated 155 points out of 53 teams.
Allegheny, the top men's team in the Mideast Region, won the event with 59 points. The top finisher in the women's race was from Johns Hopkins, as the team finished with 109 points. The Allegheny men's and Johns Hopkins women's teams will automatically advance to next weekend's NCAA national championship.
In the women's race, junior Kristin Stromberg (Hampstead, Md.) was the top Sea Gull finisher amongst the 311 runners. The three-time All-CAC runner finished the 6K race with a time of 24:06 to finish 79th overall. Junior Jennifer Musemeci (Beachwood, N.J.) finished just five seconds and seven places behind Stromberg, as she recorded a time of 24:11, good for 86th place.
Sophomore Becca Stinner (Darnestown, Md.) was the third runner across the finish line for the maroon and gold; she took home 104th place with a time of 24:32. Rounding out the top five for Salisbury were sophomore Emily Powell (Mt. Airy, Md.) and junior Masha Berge (Potomac, Md.), who placed 127th and 159th in 24:51 and 25:29, respectively.
"The Mideast Region is the largest and toughest in the nation, and my athletes had a great finish," said coach Jim Jones, the 2009 CAC Coach of the Year, after the meet. "The finish was strong, I'm very proud of all the hard work my team put in."
On the men's side, senior Travis Boccher (Columbia, Md.) led the Sea Gulls with a 48th-place finish out of 314 runners. The two-time All-CAC athlete completed the 8K course in 26:29, his best time of the year. Following only 10 seconds and places behind Boccher was Salisbury's 2nd place finisher, freshman Stephen Berstler (Chester, N.J.). The CAC Rookie of the Year came in 58th place with a time of 26:39.
Chris Barnard (Olney, Md.), a three-time All-CAC runner, completed the race in 26:44, and earned 66th place. The 4th and 5th Sea Gulls to finish were sophomores Trent Seawell (Forest Hill, Md.) and Dave Toller (Columbia, Md.), as they received 93rd and 107th place in 27:16 and 27:27, respectively.
"We competed very well this morning," said Jones regarding the men's race. "The majority of our men were in the top 100 runners; that's something to be proud of."
The 2009 NCAA Division III men's and women's cross country championships will take place next Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Highland Hills Golf Course in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College. The top two teams on the men's and women's sides will advance to the national meet. In addition, the top seven individuals who did not finish on a qualifying team will automatically qualify for nationals as individuals.
