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In second meet, cross-country stays on pace

by Geoff Mulvihill

The NCAA women's cross country race is 5 kilometers long, or just over three miles.

That's over a mile further than first-year Rebecca Grossman ran in high school cross country. But Grossman, who's been Oberlin's top finisher in both of the cross country team's meets this season, has been adjusting well.

"I was pretty happy," she said. "You always think you could do a little better."

With senior conference champion Shannon Fox out nursing a groin injury, Grossman led the Yeowomen to their second place finish Saturday in a tight three-team meet at Walsh College.

Oberlin's score was 41 - three points behind Mt. Union and four ahead of the host Walsh. With Fox's contribution, Tom Mulligan, head coach, said the Yeowomen would have won the meet.

Grossman's 20:44 race put her in second place, 13 seconds behind the winner. Grossman's preferred distance is middle distances. "For someone who's by trade a half-miler, that [distance] seems like a marathon."

Grossman is not the only runner who's doing well for the women's team. Oberlin runners first-year Lisa Mickley and sophomore Rachel Sims finished seventh and ninth against Walsh and Mt. Union.

Mulligan said every member of the team has improved over last year.

The men's cross country team finished a distant third in the meet, which Mt. Union dominated.

Junior Harsha Thirumurthy finished fifth, best among the non-Mt. Union runners in the five-mile race. He ran the course in 27:30, 15 seconds and four places ahead of teammate, senior Kit Wells.

Senior Max Rankenberg missed the meet at Walsh, but he's now back practicing with the team.

This weekend, the Yeomen and Yeowomen don't have meets, which gives them a chance to keep training for the Sept. 21 meet at the College of Wooster, which is the stiffest competition early in the season.

But for both the men's and women's teams, the focus is on the end of the season, when races are for championships. "It's a lot different from some other sports where each game counts as much as the other ones," Mulligan said. "We aim for the meets at the end of October. By then, you've forgotten who's won or lost in early September, but you remember who wins in October."


Oberlin

Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 2; September 13, 1996

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