Big East Re-cap

The 2008 Big East Conference Cross-Country Championships were held this past Friday at historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. Many who read this blog have raced at Van Cortlandt, so you know how challenging the course is. Very little has changed on the XC course in the 100+ years they have held races there. It is a fun atmosphere and I'm glad our young athletes got the opportunity to compete at this historic venue. Our team is very young. We took 18 athletes to New York and we'll get 15 of them back next year. The future is bright for MU XC!! Overall, I thought it was a very solid day for the Marquette University Cross-Country teams. It would have been nice to place 1-2 spots higher on both sides, but I think our teams had their best meet of the year so far. Both teams finished 7th for the second consecutive year. Our goal will be a top 5 finish at the 2009 Big East Championships which will be held on our home turf.

The best moment of the meet was watching Kyle Saginus sprinting in to finish 12th. Kyle ran an absolutely beautiful race. He started out in the 30's at the mile, he was in 22nd at the 5k mark, and then he slowly picked guys off to earn all-Big East honors. I was very happy for Kyle because he has worked so hard over the years for this moment. He's had his share of ups and downs throughout his career, but he wasn't going to be denied at this meet. He is only our second athlete to earn Big East all-conference honors(Cassie Peller being the other).

The 2005 Big East Championships were also held at Van Cortlandt. Here is a comparison of the 2005 team and the 2008 team. Obviously I wasn't there in 05, so I can't tell you if weather or tactics played a roll in the finishing times. I can tell you this though, the Big East has become more competitive in the last 3 years. Teams like Louisville, Syracuse, and Cincinnati have become much more competitive on the national level. I enjoy this type of competition and I think our team members do as well. The athletes know that if they can place well at the Big East Championships, they could do well on the national stage.

Men-

2005 squad- 8th place

38th David Henderson 25:55
42nd Jeremy Williams 26:01
52nd Kyle Saginus 26:14
63rd Josh Pinter 26:43
64th Andrew Craig 26:49
76th Scott Allen 27:12
97th Tommy Schmitz 28:24

2008 squad- 7th place
12th Kyle Saginus 24:56
35th Brice Cleland 25:34
46th Nick Szczech 25:54
55th Blake Johnson 26:11
66th Andrew Craig 26:21
75th Mark Kopecki 26:45
89th Patrick Keeley 27:23

Women-
2005 squad- 3rd place
14th Cassie Peller 21:49
20th Michaela Courtney 22:07
21st Susie Emond 22:11
23rd Theresa Emond 22:15
27th Tara Hinke 22:18
28th Heidi Lindeman 22:19
44th Alli Sauer 22:52

2008 squad- tied for 7th
35th Anna Weber 21:37
37th Jayne Grebinski 21:39
49th Laurie Dalrymple 22:04
55th Olivia Johnson 22:12
56th Amanda Beggs 22:12
73rd Maureen Keane 22:53
79th Kate Horan 23:02