The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News October 1, 2004

XC: Yewomen takes seventh, Yeomen finish 12th

The Oberlin men’s and women’s cross country teams gave top-notch performances last Saturday at the Allegheny Classic meet, with many runners turning in best times.

The women ran a six-kilometer race, with sophomore Adriane Burwell and first-year Alison Doniger finishing first, finishing almost simultaneously with a time of 23:40 for 20th and 21st place, respectively. Following close behind for 28th place was the women’s co-captain, senior Shannon Morris in 23:56.

“I couldn’t have been much happier with how the team competed,” commented head coach Ray Appenheimer. “The athletes did a great job of competing and getting involved in the race.”

First-year Marie Barnett finished in 25:04 for 53rd place and sophomore Sophie Grimes finished in 70th place at 25:26. The sixth finisher for the Yeowomen was junior Angela Parker who finished 110th in 26:16. First-year Anna Chernin finished in 26:38, earning her 125th overall and sophomore Barrie Newberger finished 137th with a time of 26:53.

First-years Anne Lowe and Laura Boyd finished together in 27:02 and 27:04 for back-to-back 144th and 145th place finishes. Junior Rebecca Turnbull finished in 27:14 for 152nd place and sophomore Val Morgan earned a 205th place finish in 30:36.

“I told them after the race that this is just the beginning for this team,” said Appenheimer. “We’re going to keep getting better every week.”

Junior Hilary Close finished in 32:05 and sophomore Jamie Hansen finished in 32:27, for 212th and 215th place finishes, helping the women’s team to earn a seventh place finish out of 21 teams.

The men’s team placed 12th of 19 teams and seemed very pleased with their overall performance. “The team ran its best race thus far,” said sophomore Travis Grout.

Grout, the first team finisher in the eight kilometer race, finished in ninth place overall, beating his personal best time by nearly 60 seconds in 26:53.

First-year Andrew Higgins and sophomore Matt Ferris-Smith lead the first pack of finishers for the Yeomen, finishing with lifetime bests of 28:41 and 28:42 for 76th and 78th place. Close behind was sophomore John Shaw in 81st place with a time of 28:49 and junior Robby Tinker in 29:08 in 94th place, both improving by over a minute from their last race two weeks ago.

“The men didn’t run as much in a pack during this race,” said the men’s team co-captain, senior Mike Pennino, “but several of the top men’s runners ran very strong races, especially Higgins, Ferris-Smith and Shaw, who started pushing themselves from the very beginning and tried to hold their places towards the front as long as they could.”

Pennino finished in 101st place in 29:19. Sophomores Jesse Gerstin and Thatcher Newkirk finished with times of 30:02 and 30:25, earning them 128th and 141st places. Junior, Adam Morse took 146th place with a time of 30:39. First-year Andrew Pike finished in 31:43 and sophomore Ross Hollister finished in 34:33, for 165th and 189th places, respectively.

“We ran fast, we had a blast, we didn’t finish last, our competitors were aghast, no one broke their leg and no one needed a cast and now the cross country meet is in the past,” said Tinker.
 
 

   

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