Men Win By 39 Points, Roanoke Women Are 36 Points Better than Second Place Team
ROANOKE, VA --The Roanoke College men's and women's cross country teams both won the 2005 Maroon Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Green Hill Park in Roanoke, VA. The Roanoke men took four top-10 scoring spots and finished with a total of 37 points, that while the Roanoke women had all five of their top runners finish in the top-10 scoring spots in collecting 25 total points. The Roanoke men were 39 points better than second place Southern Virginia University, while Wittenberg (OH) University was the closest women's team to Roanoke's winning pace, 36 points behind.
Running in a pack throughout the early stages of the women's race, Roanoke's Tainer broke away in the latter stages and cruised to the first place finish, that in a time of 19:51 on the flat 5K course. In the top-five throughout the run, Maroon sophomore Meg Harnett worked her way up the standings and placed only behind Tainer, that seven seconds behind the top pace. After three runners came in behind Harnett, the Maroons got their third scoring run of the day from sophomore Jane Mullican, who was sixth (20:16). Two spots and 17 seconds behind Mullican was Roanoke freshman Emily Gallagher. The Maroons got their fifth and final scoring effort of the day from freshman Jennifer Doughman who was 12th overall (10th in scoring places) in 20:58.
The men's race went much the way of the women's, with the Maroons controlling many of the top-10 scoring spots. Junior Eric Johnson and Southern Virginia's Jeff White led the pack for the vast majority of the race. The top two spots came down to a sprint over the final 50 yards, with White beating out Johnson by inches. Johnson earned two points for RC with his second place finish, which came in 26:24. Andrew Parkins took sixth overall for RC in 27:43, while Coleman Abbott gave the team seven points with an eighth-place finish. Abbott's time was by far a personal best for the second year runner. Senior Dana Mueller rounded out Roanoke's top-10 scoring runs, that with an 11th place finish with a run of 28:13. The final Maroon scorer on the day was freshman Alex Knutsen, who took 16th place overall and got 13 points for the home team.
Roanoke is back in action next Saturday at the Hagan Stone Cross Country Classic.