Zack Tembi Paces Roanoke Men, Bridget Tainer Runs Lead on Women\'s Side
GREENVILLE, NC -- Both the Roanoke College men's and women's cross country teams finished fifth at the Division I East Carolina University Invitational on Saturday afternoon in Greenville, NC. The Roanoke men took fifth out of eight teams with 140 points, while the women were fifth out of seven teams with 109 total points. All of the teams that finished ahead of the Maroons, on both the men's and women's sides, were Division I scholarship programs.Zack Tembi (Windsor, CT/Windsor) led the Roanoke men on Saturday, placing 18th overall with a time of 27:01. Three spots behind was Eric Johnson (Topsham, ME/Mt. Ararat), who won last week's Maroon Invitational, with a season-best time of 27:25. Will Justice (Sterling, VA/Broad Run) was the third Maroon runner to cross the line, while Andrew Parkins (Charlottesville, VA/Albemarle) and TJ Milewski (Dryden, NY/Dryden) rounded out Roanoke's scoring.
The Maroon women had its top seven runners finish within 70 seconds of each other, with the team's seventh runner finishing ahead of the seventh runner of three of the four teams ahead of it in the overall standings. Bridget Tainer (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) led the Roanoke bunch with a time of 20:20, which was good enough for 19th. Ashley Eshaghi (Buena Vista, VA/Parry McCluer) was three spots behind (20:34) and Christie Van Pelt (Richardsville, VA/Culpepper) six spots back (20:44). Lauren Alexander (Harrisonburg, VA/Harrisonburg) and freshman Meg Harnett (Gochen, CT/St. Margaret's McTernan) were fourth and fifth for the Maroons.
The teams are back in action next Saturday at the Division III state meet which will be held in Harrisonburg, VA. The Roanoke men look to run their streak to five consecutive state titles, while the women look to regain the state championship which they won in 2002.