Cross
Country Men 4th, Women 5th at Concordia Invitational
Zemaitis, Simpson and Murillo
in top 10
MEQUON, WI - Along the sunny
shore of Lake Michigan, Concordia University (Mequon, WI) played host to
the Lake Forest College Cross Country teams this Saturday (September 16th).
The Foresters returned home with their men having finished 4th of 12 teams
and the women 5th out of 11.
Junior captains Joe
Zemaitis (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) and Charles
Evans (Asheville, NC/Carolina Day School) were the top two finishers
for the men, completing the 8-kilometer course in 28:51 and 29:20, respectively,
good for 8th and 12th places. Sophomores Eric
Crawley (Braintree, MA/Thayer), Rob
Bahde (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield) and Brandon
Johnson (Phoenix, AZ/Brophy) rounded out the top five for the Foresters
in 34th, 30th and 40th places. Evans and Johnson each ran career best times.
In the women's race, senior captains
Sarah
Simpson (Colorado Springs, CO/Palmer) and Michelle
Murillo (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) started aggressively and held
on to finish 9th and 10th in the race with times of 20:54 and 21:00, respectively.
As in the men's race, three sophomores completed the team's top five as
Erin
Motzer (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville), Melissa
Brown (Cape Coral, FL/Cape Coral) and Molly
Sutherland (St. Paul, MN/Visitation) finished in 33rd, 38th and 49th
places.
Head Coach Mike Wajerski was pleased
with both teams' performances. "Today was the first 8K of the year for
the men I wasn't sure what to expect. I like the way they competed. I really
liked the way Sarah [Simpson] and Michelle [Murillo] started fast and held
on to their top 10 spots. We're not racing next weekend, so it was
important for us to run well today. Now we'll be able to approach these
next two weeks of hard training with a positive mindset."
The Foresters' next meet will be
on September 30th at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, IL.
The women's 6K will be at 10:15 AM and the men's 8K will start at 11:00
AM. |
Zemaitis, Simpson and Murillo
(top to bottom) all finished in the top 10.
|