SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- The Chattanooga women’s cross country team placed all five scoring runners in the Top 20 to edge Samford for the 2008 Southern Conference Cross Country title Saturday morning at Milliken Park in Spartanburg, S.C. Sophomore Emmanuel Kirwa claimed the title in the men’s race as the Mocs finished second.
The Lady Mocs held off the conference newcomer, 62-60 to take the team title for the third straight year. Leading the way for the Lady Mocs was sophomore Tara Gietema, who finished fifth in the 5K with a time of 18:04.47 and represented UTC on the All-Conference First Team. “I thought it was going to be this tough. It was a competitive race and it was exciting,” UTC Head Coach Bill Gautier said. “I knew there were two or three teams who could win it and I knew that we were one of those teams. The women’s race was initially declared a tie between Furman was third with 77 points, Appalachian State was fourth with 93 points and Davidson, who finished second last year, was fifth with 127 points. Elon was sixth followed by Senior Katie Williams placed ninth in the race for “Our seniors really stepped up,” Gautier said. “They showed leadership and maturity and led us to this win. The seniors came through and did what they needed to do today.” Gautier was named the women’s SoCon Coach of the Year for the third straight year and eighth time since arriving at Furman’s Megan Lordi was the overall winner in the women’s race in a time of 17:22.03 followed by In the men’s race, sophomore transfer Emmanuel Kirwa outdistanced the field to win the 8-kilometer event in a time of 24:35.18. Teammate sophomore Chris Berry was third overall in a time of 24:46.98. “Emmanuel dropped the other runners with about a half mile to go,” Gautier said. “We could have gone one-two in the men’s race, but Chris got out-leaned at the finish line.” “I thought we had a chance for a while there,” Gautier said. “Emmanuel ran like I knew he was capable of running. I’m so happy he’s in Joshue Vasquez was the third finisher for the Mocs in 12th place with a time of 25:28.83 and was named the league’s Freshman of the Year. He is the second straight The Mountaineers won the race with 40 points to David Moore and Kevin Huwe rounded out the scoring for the Mocs finishing 20th and 21st respectively. This marks the 11th time in 12 years that the Mocs have placed first or second in the championships and Kirwa is the ninth runner to claim Runner of the Year in that time. Up next for Team Scores – Men 1. Appalachian State 40 2. 3. Furman 70 4. Samford 124 5. UNC 6. Elon 132 7. 8. Davidson 198 9. 10. The Citadel 286 11. Wofford 342 Team Scores – Women 1. 2. Samford 62 3. Furman 77 4. Appalachian State 93 5. Davidson 127 6. Elon 150 7. 8. UNC 9. 10. The Citadel 317 10. 12. Wofford 384 All-SoCon First Team – Men 1. Emmanuel Kirwa – So. – 2. Asmeron Desta – Sr. – Appalachian State 3. Chris Berry – So. – 4. Patrick Morgan – Sr. – Furman 5. Phil Mitchell – Jr. – Appalachian State 6. Cameron Bean – Sr. – Samford 7. Alex Plasencia – Sr. – Furman All-SoCon First Team – Women 1. Megan Lordi – Jr. – Furman 2. Meghan Gaffney – Gr. – Appalachian State 3. Hillary Neal – So. – Samford 4. Sherrika Jordan – Jr. – UNC 5. Tara Gietema – So. – 6. Andrea Seccafien – Fr. – Samford 7. Emily Fourier – So. – Elon All-SoCon Second Team – Men 8. Charlie McGoogan – So. – Furman 9. Ryan O’Keefe – Sr. – Appalachian State 10. Josh Houser – Jr. – Appalachian State 11. Lance Harden – Sr. – Davidson 12. Joshue Vasquez – Fr. – 13. Jermaine Coore – Fr. – UNC 14. Alec Meyer – Jr. – Appalachian State All-SoCon Second Team – Women 8. Caroline Sanker – Sr. – Davidson 9. Katie Williams – Sr. – 10. Chloe Kowalski – Fr. – Furman 11. Sabrina LeFort – Sr. – 12. Brittany Johnson – Jr. – Furman 13. Hannah Parks – Sr. – Appalachian State 14. Deanna Zidar – Fr. – Samford All-SoCon Freshman Team – Men 12. Joshue Vasquez – 13. Jermaine Coore – UNC 15. Sean Soderman – Appalachian State 17. Zachary Flickinger – Furman 18. Joey Thompson – UNC 29. Matt Baltimore – 32. Josey Weaver – All-SoCon Freshman Team – Women 6. Andrea Seccafien – Samford 10. Chloe Kowalski – Furman 14. Deanna Zidar – Samford 23. Melanie Reyer – Elon 24. Cori Christensen – Samford 26. Erin Barker – Furman 32. Meredith White – Coach of the Year – Men Mike Curcio – Appalachian State Coach of the Year – Women Bill Gautier – Runner of the Year – Men Emmanuel Kirwa – Runner of the Year – Women Megan Lordi – Furman Freshman of the Year – Men Joshue Vasquez – Freshman of the Year – Women Andrea Seccafien – Samford
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- The Chattanooga women’s cross country team placed all five scoring runners in the Top 20 to edge Samford for the 2008 Southern Conference Cross Country title Saturday morning at Milliken Park in Spartanburg, S.C. Sophomore Emmanuel Kirwa claimed the title in the men’s race as the Mocs finished second.
The Lady Mocs held off the conference newcomer, 62-60 to take the team title for the third straight year. Leading the way for the Lady Mocs was sophomore Tara Gietema, who finished fifth in the 5K with a time of 18:04.47 and represented UTC on the All-Conference First Team.