October 30, 2010

Bears Cross Country has Record-Setting Day at A-Sun Meet

 

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer University's men's and women's cross country teams both posted a seventh place finish in their respective races at the Atlantic Sun Conference championships on Saturday at the Milliken Research Park on the USC Upstate campus. Both teams established new school records for team average in their divisions, as well as two individual women's marks falling.

"I'm really proud of our teams," MU head coach Ryan Bailey said. "They did exactly what I asked them to do. I don't think any coach could expect more from his team than what I got today."

The Bears' teams ran on the same course two weeks ago at the USC Upstate Invitational and both set records in that race, as well. In the A-Sun championships, the MU women had eight of its nine competitors run personal records, while the men had three individual bests set on the day.

Despite the record run, the men's finish was exactly where they placed last year, as well as where they were selected in the pre-season coaches' poll.  The women actually improved one spot from its pre-season prognostication of eighth.

In the women's 5K race – which was first up on championship Saturday – it was sophomore Kacie Niemann crossing the line as Mercer's top finisher for the second-consecutive year and doing so in a Mercer school - and personal - record time of 18:21.03, good for 18^th place. Niemann shaved 11 seconds off of her Bears' record set at last year's A-Sun championship meet.

The freshman trio of Linda Batna, Lena Hamvas and Sammy Woller garnered Mercer's second, third and fourth finishes.  Batna – a Latvian native who is in her first year of cross country running after competing in track previously – obliterated her personal mark by 24 seconds with an 18:36.40 clocking (good for 23^rd overall). Batna also earned a spot on the A-Sun All-Freshman Team by finishing fourth among college newcomers, setting MU's freshman women's 5K record, as well.

Hamvas crossed the line in 38^th place in a personal best 19:07.18 and Woller was in 45^th with a PR time of 19:22.34.

Junior Christina Kivi was 52^nd overall and MU's fifth scorer. Kivi's personal best time of 19:34.38 was eight seconds faster than her previous top time.  Senior Clara Densmore's time of 19:49.81 was 18 seconds better than her personal best and put here in 57^th in the standings.

Sophomore Kasie Knapper and freshman Kylen Hughes both ran PR's, as well, and finished 64^th and 66^th, respectively.  Knapper blasted her best mark, lopping 33 seconds off by finishing at 20:00.75 (an improvement of 1:51 minutes of her best time one year ago, too). Hughes improved by nine seconds with a 20:10.15.

The Bears' ninth runner was sophomore Alesa Webber in 78^th at 21:47.00.

On the men's side, it was déjà vu all over again as sophomore Jacob Law was once again Mercer's first finisher. Law crushed his personal record by 30 seconds with a time of 25:45.15 and a 20^th place finish overall. Fellow sophomore Andrew Weems went sub-26 minutes for the first time in his MU career with a clocking of 25:57.28, a PR by four seconds and 23^rd place in the race.

Sophomore Chris Svidesskis and freshman Sony Prosper were 32^nd and 34^th. Svidesskiss' time was 26:13.06, while Prosper had a 26:15.12 finish.

Senior Marc Kushinka had a season-best effort of 27:09.25 and finished 57^th, while junior teammate Geremy Skeen was 64^th (27:46.94). Junior Nick Huguenard torched his personal record by cutting off 21 seconds with his finish of 28:19.31.

Freshmen Kasib Abdullah (28:30.09/71^st) and Taylor Garrett (29:21.34/73^rd) rounded out the MU men's lineup.

"The A-Sun has gotten extremely tough," Bailey said. "Times that earned awards just last year are not even close this year. We're moving forward and improving as a team and that's all I can ask."