Cross country earns twin third-place finishes at home

Running on a brand new course at West Campus, the GCSU cross country teams hosted their first ever home meet on Saturday, Sept. 6.

The ladies started things off at 8:30 a.m. on their 3.1-mile loop, which circled around West Campus’s intramural fields and baseball field. The portion behind the intramural fields was hilly and strenuous, and added a challenge for the runners.
Shortly before the race, sophomore Jessica Forbes had mixed emotions.

“It’s my first race this season and I can’t wait. I am really nervous and excited,” she said. “We haven’t raced against any of these teams this season, so it’s going to be an indicator of how we are going to place in conference.”

The men ran a modified course which totaled 4.96 miles, beginning at 9:15 a.m. The race was a pre-conference showdown against several region schools, including conference foes Augusta State University, Columbus State University, North Georgia College & State University, Francis Marion University, Clayton State University, the University of South Carolina at Aiken and Georgia Southwestern State University.

Both Bobcat squads placed third in the Peach Belt Conference last season and aim for similar success this year.

“We are seeded third this year, and aim to finish in the top three again,” sophomore Alex Taylor said.

Strong performances from freshmen and the consistency of experienced runners pace the Lady Bobcats this season. On Saturday, freshman Karissa Ekstrom was the top finisher on the team, winding up tenth in 20:07, tying for the sixth-best time in school history.

Just three slots behind in thirteenth was junior Heather Raines with a time of 20:24, and the third finisher for GCSU was freshman Sarah Balkcom, who ran a 20:51 to come in twenty-first.

The all-PBC duo of junior Bonnie Ueltzen and sophomore Dani Destiche finished in twenty-third and twenty-fourth, respectively.

As a team, the Lady Bobcats placed third overall with 91 points, behind only Columbus and Augusta.

The story is the same for the men’s team, with two freshmen pacing the Bobcats and veterans right behind. The top four runners each set personal records on the eight-kilometer course on Saturday.

Rookie Colin Conroy looks to be a force already for GCSU, as he was the top Bobcat finisher again this week, running a 27:49 for fourteenth place. Fellow freshman Rob Manning followed closely behind in fifteenth, only seven seconds later.

Sophomore Erik Ottoson placed seventeenth, running a 28:05, and the fourth runner for the Bobcats was another freshman, Travis Knight, who completed the course in 28:30 to finish twenty-first.

Returning all-PBC junior Josh Hollar finished right behind Knight in twenty-second, and gave his thoughts on running his own race.

“I get anxious at the starting line with anticipation,” he said, “but I always try to run a strong race by pacing myself really well.”

The men also placed third overall with 89 points, behind Columbus and Clayton. Columbus has the top-ranked men’s and women’s teams in the region, and they shone on Saturday.

The next race for the Bobcats is the pre-region meet on Saturday, Sept. 13 in Wingate, N.C. The only other home meet this season for the Peach Belt championships, is to be held Oct. 25.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 12 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry