The Collegian

Issue date: 9/24/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Courtesy of Amanda Schneider

Media Credit: Courtesy of Amanda Schneider

The cross-country teams got things going with an excellent first meet at Kenosha, Wis.
"It was an absolute success," junior Alex Ralston said.

The men placed third out of 15 teams behind the University of Louisville and Marquette University, Division I schools out of the Big East conference. They defeated GLIAC opponents Michigan Technological University, Northwood University and Tiffin University as well as University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, a Division I school out of the Horizon League.

"It was a really tough course, but everyone did really well on it," senior Derek Gilmore said.

Senior Timothy Howse led the charge for the men with his tenth-place finish, running the 8-kilometer in 25 minutes and 45.5 seconds. Sophomore Jacob Secor finished 13th and Ralston ran a personal best to finish 23rd and round out Hillsdale's top three.

"At least 5 guys ran their best times ever," Ralston said. "It sets us up for a great season."

The meet was a good indicator of the strength of the team, Gilmore said.

"It was a really good overall race and it was just a nice benchmark to see where we are right now and how we can improve." Gilmore said. "It's just really encouraging because we did so well."

The women's team also ran very well, finishing fourth out of 17 teams behind Louisville, West Virginia University and Marquette. Like the men, they defeated three GLIAC opponents as well as UW Milwaukee.

Sophomore Melissa TenKate placed 17th to lead the women with a time of 18 minutes and 39.3 seconds (five kilometers). Junior Ashley Quick placed 19th and senior Erin Cvengros placed 25th.

"The team had three ladies that were under 19 [minutes] flat for 5 kilometers," head coach Bill Lundberg said. "That's a nice mark to be under."

The race was a confidence-booster for the women.

"I really think it made us all excited and kind of gave us hope that we'll do well." Cvengros said. "This was the first glimpse of how well we could do."

One theme was how well both teams ran despite the difficulty of the course.

"The course was pretty hilly," said senior Marion Gabl. "We kind of expected slower times a little bit because the course was not supposed to be particularly fast, but the times were fast anyway."

Another encouragement was the overall depth of the team.

"Our top five were all under 19:15," Cvengros said.

Gabl also noted the depth.

"It's just very encouraging, and I think it shows the depth of our team this year because two of our good girls didn't even run because of injury," she said.

The next meet for both squads is the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., Oct. 2.

Individual and team results for Kenosha can be found on the college Web site.

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