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Bulldog Runners Do Well At Notre Dame
Sept. 17, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's cross country teams both had success Friday at the National Catholic Cross Country Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame. The Bulldog men, paced by Ryan Anderson's fifth-place finish, claimed second behind the host Fighting Irish, while the Bulldogs women, with Jill Semenza taking ninth, took third behind ND and the University of DePaul. Notre Dame's men had five of the top seven runners for 19 points and the near sweep. The Bulldogs, who saw Joe Miller take 10th and Joe Manning capture 15th overall and 14th for team scoring purposes, had 106 points for a 33-point bulge over third-place Xavier University. Tim Moore of ND was first over the 8K Burke Memorial Golf Course in 24:58 for an 8-second win over teammate Jake Watson. Anderson was fifth in 25:11, Miller 10th in 25:23 and Manning 14th in 25:41. The women's race was won by Stephanie Madia of Notre Dame who covered the 5K layout in 17:38. Semenza was ninth in 18:37, Jamie Schiel 29th in 19:21, Nellie Ballou 32nd in 19:23 and Emily Buck 34th in 19:23 for the other top Bulldog finishers. "We had a good day," an obviously delighted head coach Kevin Swaim said of his Bulldogs. "The Bulldogs reached maturity, especially on the men's side. When you have the right kids doing the right things you get good results. This is an outstanding group of seniors." Of the Bulldog participants Miller, Manning, Dan Futrell (43rd overall, 42nd for scoring purposes in 26:54) and David Hannon (47/46 in 27:03) are seniors. "Joe Miller hasn't hurt us either," Swaim said of the sophomore. Swaim said he believed the women could finish in the top five heading into the race, and may have been a little surprised by the third place finish. "Jill ran a good race," Swaim said of the junior leader of the women's team. In contrast to the men's squad, Jessica Hermens is the only senior on the squad. She finished 156th overall and 142nd for scoring purposes out of 254 runners in 21:36.
"This is a good meet. It's competition at the top level. We'd like to go to this meet every two years," Swaim said of the Bulldogs' return to the meet after competing in 2002. "This was a good outing, a real confidence booster for us." The Bulldogs will be idle until Oct. 2 when they compete at the Willamette Invitational in Salem, Ore. |
