Johnson Bests All Men\'s Runners, Eashghi Fifth to Lead RC Women
SALEM, VA -- The Roanoke College men's and women's cross country teams both claimed the championship of the 2004 Maroon Invitational on Saturday morning in Salem, VA. The Roanoke men, who won the race for the fifth consecutive season, placed first overall with a 29-point effort, 33 points ahead of second place Eastern Mennonite University. The Roanoke women were also first overall in the race, winning with a team total 39 points, 24 ahead of second place Southern Virginia University. The women won the race for the second time in the past three years.Roanoke sophomore Eric Johnson (Topsham, ME/Mt. Ararat) was the class of Saturday's men's race, winning the individual title with a 28:09 for the 8K race. Johnson's winning time was 47 seconds better than the second place runner, which was Roanoke's Andrew Parkins (Charlottesville, VA/Albermarle). Johnson led for a majority of the race, while Parkins' time was his season-best. Kevin Beachy of Eastern Mennonite was third overall and teammate Tim Harder was fifth. The Maroons, however, secured the victory with the eighth place finish of Phil Hash (Independence, VA/Grayson County), the ninth place finish of TJ Milewski (Dryden, NY/Dryden) and the 12th place finish of Alex Tuck (Richmond, VA/Maggie Walker). With Roanoke's sixth and seventh runner across the line, Eastern Mennonite was not able to close its scoring until the 29th place position, allowing the Maroons to claim the win.
The Roanoke women did not have a runner cross the line 'until' the fifth position, but the team had seven runners come in between the fifth and 16th spots, allowing the team to win its sixth overall Invitational title. Junior Ashley Eshaghi (Buena Vista, VA/Parry McCluer) worked her way up the pack throughout the race to lead the Maroons on the day. Eshaghi was fifth with a 5K time of 20:50, just under a minute off of the championship pace of Kim Anderson of Southern Virginia. With the Maroons bunched up, Christie Van Pelt (Richardsville, VA/Culpepper), Bridget Tainer (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring), and Erin Alexander (Harrisonburg, VA/Turner Ashby) all gave the Maroons top-10 points. Van Pelt was sixth, Tainer seventh, and Alexander 10th. Lauren Alexander (Harrisonburg, VA/Turner Ashby) rounded out Roanoke's scoring with 12 points.
The Maroons are back in action on October 2nd at the Division I East Carolina Invitational in Greenville, NC. The Maroons return to the state of Virginia for competition on October 9th in Harrisonburg, VA in the Virginia Division III State Championship meet.