A-B Women's Cross Country Hold Strong Second in WVIAC Rankings
as reported on www.wviac.org
(PRINCETON, W.Va.)---Wheeling Jesuit's men and West Virginia Wesleyan's women begin 2009 in the top spots of the WVIAC cross country team power ratings. The Cardinals outdistanced '08 champion West Virginia Wesleyan and Concord on the men's side, while the current title holding Bobcat women narrowly edged Alderson-Broaddus.
The WVIAC cross country team power ratings are voted upon weekly by league coaches, along with a runner of the week and a top five individuals list. Thirteen league schools field women's squads, while a dozen will compete in the men's championship.
This season's WVIAC Cross Country Championship will be hosted by Glenville State College on October 24. The complete pre-season team top fives follow:
Men:
Pos. School (1st place votes) Pts.
1. Wheeling Jesuit (6) 38
t2. Concord (1) 29
t2. West Virginia Wesleyan (1) 29
4. Seton Hill 13
5. Alderson-Broaddus 7
Others receiving votes: Davis & Elkins 3.
Women:
Pos. School (1st place votes) Pts.
1. West Virginia Wesleyan (4) 37
2. Alderson-Broaddus (4) 36
3. Seton Hill (1) 27
4. Wheeling Jesuit 22
5. Concord 13
Ohio University Invitational Results (9/22/07)
On September 22, the Battler
Cross Country Teams headed to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for the Ohio Invitational. Despite the presence of two Division-I
schools on the men’s side and three Division-I institutions on the women’s
side, the Battlers had a strong showing.
On the men’s side, Grafton native Scott Gemberling placed
14th with a time of 26:34 to lead the Battlers. With a time of
29:50.20, sophomore Luke Unger finished 31st, and was followed
consecutively by junior Drew Richardson (30:06.30), and freshmen Mack Triplett
(30:21.90) and Zach Serian (30:55). The
team finished third with 82 points behind the University of Cincinnati and Ohio University.
A Grafton native also paced the Lady Battlers. Junior Nicole Tingler ran the 5K course in
20:15.60, which was good enough for 19th place. Sophomores Katie Antonik and Chelsea Hanne
finished 22nd and 33rd, respectively, with times of
20:29.80 and 21:46.
Hillary McConnell crossed
the finish line immediately after Hanne with a time of 21:51.40 and was
followed by Stacey Lewis in 36th with a time of 22:34.70. Overall, the team finished fourth behind the
University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, and Cleveland State University with
a total of 104 points.
Both teams will be headed to Rio Grande, Ohio next Saturday, September 29, for the University of Rio Grande Invitational.
Westminster and Marietta Results (9/1/07 and 9/15/07)
After a strong finish to the 2006 season, Alderson-Broaddus’
cross country coaches Jim Seaton and Heather McDaniel hoped to pick up where
they left off. However, they would have
to rely on several new faces to complement only a few returning runners. Scott Gemberling and Drew Richardson will
share the leadership role for the men, since Ryan Skotnicki, a former WVIAC
Freshman of the Year, is redshirted for the season. Returning to the women’s team are Katie
Antonik, Chelsea Hanne, Chelsey Taylor, Kacy King, and Nicole Tingler.
Both the
men’s and women’s teams opened their seasons Labor Day weekend at the Fisher
Invitational at Westminster College
in New Wilmington, Ohio. Junior Scott
Gemberling won the men’s race for the Battlers with a time of 27:35.8. The team finished third out of nine, with 62
points. The women finished fifth out of
eight with 130 points.
The
following weekend, the Battlers made the short drive to Elkins for the Forest
Festival Invitational, hosted by Davis
and Elkins College. Sophomore Katie Antonik was the top finisher
for the AB Women, as she captured 11th place with a time of
25:41.94. Junior Nicole Tingler followed
right behind with a time of 25:57.07.
Sophomore Chelsea Hanne and freshman Hillary McConnell finished 27th
and 34th, respectively with times of 27:38.80 and 28:16.19. Overall, the team finished fifth with 125
points.
In the men’s
race, Gemberling, a native of Grafton, once again was the top finisher for A-B
with a third place finish and a time of 29:04.76. Sophomore Luke Unger followed at 24th
(31:21.09). Freshman Coty Campbell and sophomore Drew Richardson finished 32nd
and 33rd, respectively with times of 32:10.79 and 32:19.78. A point total of 125 gave the men a sixth
place finish.
On
Saturday, September 15, the Battlers ran at the Carl L. Broughton Invitational
at the Broughton Nature Preserve in Marietta, Ohio. Gemberling finished third with a time of
27:23.32 to lead A-B. Unger, a Berkeley
Springs native, was 18th with a time of 29:05.99. Freshman Mack Triplett and Barrackville
native, Richardson recorded times
of 29:33.94 and 29:34.61 to finish back to back at 24th and 25th. The Battlers finished third with a total of
85 points.
Antonik, a
resident of Bellaire, Ohio,
finished seventh in the women’s race with a time of 20:41.44. Tingler, also a Grafton native, finished in
eighth with a time of 21:00.35. A
21:37.16 finish by Hanne, an Aliquippa, Pennsylvania native and a 22:04.24
finish by McConnell of Terra Alta were good enough for 16th and 20th
place finishes. The women also finished
third with a total of 79 points.
Both squads
will return to action on September 22 at the Ohio University Invitational
in Athens, Ohio.
9/20/2008 vs Indiana University
The Alderson-Broaddus cross country teams traveled to Indiana University of Pennsylvania for the IUP Invitational this past Saturday, September 20. Both the men’s and women’s squads encountered very strong competitors as they finished in fifth and fourth place, respectively.
Ryan Skotnicki, a graduate of University High School, led the Battlers with a time of 29:01 to finish in 20th place. Junior Luke Unger finished eleven seconds behind Skotnicki to cross the line in 21st. Josh Ferguson, a freshman from Valley Bend, was 28th after running the eight kilometer course in 29:54. Chris Stewart, a Hedgesville native, was 45th, while sophomores Jordan Wilcox and Mack Triplett finished consecutively in 47th and 48th.
The women’s squad was paced by freshman Ashley Teets, whose time of 25:18 put her in 11th place. Juniors Chelsea Hanne and Katie Antonik finished in 21st and 23rd, respectively with times of 25:54 and 25:59. Terra Alta native, Hilary McConnell, crossed the line at the 26:04 mark, good enough for a 25th place finish. The Battlers’ lone senior, Nicole Tingler came in 28th with a time of 26:28. Freshmen Megan Miller and Paige Byrne also successfully completed the race in 49th and 60th place, respectively.
The Battlers will take this upcoming weekend off before running at Slippery Rock University on October 4.
9/15/2008 WVIAC Men's & Women's Weekly Awards
After a successful weekend of running, the Battler cross country teams garnered not one, but two WVIAC awards for the week of September 15.
Ryan Skotnicki, a native of Morgantown, finished fourth out of a field of 91 runners at the Carl Broughton Invitational hosted by Marietta College. The senior has been a consistent leader for the Battlers, setting the pace for the Battlers in each of their meets this fall.
Chelsea Hanne, a junior from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, was also selected as the conference’s runner of the week. She ran the course at the Carl Broughton Invitational in 21:06.05 to earn seventh place. Her finish would eventually help the Battlers to earn second place at the meet.
Skotnicki and Hanne are the first Battler runners to be honored by the WVIAC this year.
9/13/2008 vs Marietta College of Ohio
The Alderson-Broaddus cross country teams competed this past Saturday, September 13, in the Carl Broughton Invitational, which was hosted by Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.
The women’s team had a very positive finish, coming in second behind Otterbein College. Junior Chelsea Hanne, a native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, was the top finisher for the Battlers, coming in second with a time of 21:06. Ashley Teets, a freshman from Terra Alta, came in ninth at 21:12, followed closely by another junior, Katie Antonik, who was eleventh with a time of 21:17. The Battlers’ lone senior, Nicole Tingler finished at a 21:20 clip to place fifteenth. Other finishers were Hilary McConnell (41st) and Paige Byrne (61st).
On the men’s side, the Battlers finished sixth overall. Ryan Skotnicki, a Morgantown native, led the Battlers with a time of 28:27 to finish fourth. Josh Ferguson was the next finisher for A-B in 32nd with a time of 30:54. Drew Richardson was 40th after a time of 31:53. Luke Unger (46th), Chris Stewart (53rd), Zach Serian (68th), Jordan Wilcox (71st) and Mack Triplett (77th) also completed the eight kilometer race.
Both squads will be back in action this Saturday, September 20 when they travel to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
8/30/2008 Knight Night Relays in Kingwood, 09/06/2008 vs Davis & Elkins College
After returning a strong core to both its men’s and women’s squads the Battler cross country team has fared well in both meets that it has participated in during the 2008 season.
On August 30, the teams traveled to Kingwood for the Knight Night Relays held at Preston High School. The setup was different from a typical cross country meet such that each school was split into pairs, leaving each runner to complete two, one and a half mile laps. The times for each lap were then added so that a total of four times were used for the final results.
On the men’s side, the team of Drew Richardson and Josh Ferguson finished in fifth place with a total time of 35:39. Ryan Skotnicki and Chris Stewart followed right behind in sixth with a time of 35:50. With a time of 36:32, Luke Unger and Jordan Wilcox were seventh, followed by the team of Zach Serian and Mack Triplett in ninth with a recorded time of 37:07. Individually, Skotnicki was ninth, followed by Unger and Serian in twelfth and thirteenth, respectively. Ferguson was also in the top twenty after finishing nineteenth overall.
The women’s team also fared well. Finishing in eighth was the duo of Hillary McConnell and Ashley Teets with a time of 40:17. A time of 42:17 allowed Nicole Tingler and Katie Antonik to finish in eleventh. Only a second separated the following team of Chelsea Hanne and Megan Miller from the eleventh place finishers. Top twenty finishers were Hanne, who had the best individual time to finish in fifteenth, followed close behind by Teets, who was seventeenth.
The following Saturday, both squads traveled to Davis and Elkins College for the Forest Festival Invitational.
Overall, the Battlers were third out of eight teams with an average time of 32.06. Skotnicki, a former WVIAC Freshman of the Year, once again led the Battlers with a time of 30:19 to finish in eleventh. Unger was nineteenth with a time of 31:34, followed by Ferguson who finished in 21st with a time of 31:51. Other finishers for the Battlers were Richardson (26th), Serian (41st), Stewart (43rd), Wilcox (46th), and Triplett (56th).
The women also finished third out of eight teams with an average finish of 27:07. Hanne, a junior from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, crossed the finish line in tenth place with a time of 26:18. Teets was only six seconds behind Hanne and finished eleventh. McConnell was thirteenth with a finish of 26:53. Tingler was also in the top twenty, after a 27:28 time allowed her to finish 18th. Other finishers for the Battlers were Antonik (30th), Miller (42nd), and Paige Byrne (55th).
Both squads will return to action this Saturday, September 13, when they travel to Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.
Results from 10/25/2008 WVIAC Championships
After
a strenuous season of long distance runs and challenging hill climbs, the
Alderson-Broaddus cross country teams exhibited that their hard work paid off
as they made a solid showing at the WVIAC championships last Saturday, October
25.
In
the women’s race, the Battlers earned 48 points to finish second, only seven
points behind eventual champion, West Virginia Wesleyan. Individually, Junior Chelsea Hanne finished
two seconds behind Wesleyan’s Brenna Haggerty top time of 23:48 to earn second place. Freshman Ashley Teets joined
Hanne on the all-conference squad by placing sixth with a time of 24:21. Katie Antonik and Hilary McConnell had
consecutive 11th and 12th place finishes to earn second
team all-conference honors. Senior
Nicole Tingler also was on the second team after her time of 25:29 allowed her
to finish in 17th. Megan
Miller (35th) and Paige Byrne (46th) also completed the
race for the Battlers.
On
the men’s side, the Battlers finished fifth out of eleven conference
schools. Junior Ryan Skotnicki set the
pace, as his time of 27:25 allowed him to finish seven seconds ahead of his
closest competition and win the WVIAC title.
Luke Unger finished in 12th with a time of 28:56 to earn
second team all-conference honors.
Sophomores Zach Serian and Mack
Triplett were the next to complete the race for the Battlers by placing 33rd
and 36th, respectively. A
trio of underclassmen rounded out the finishers for A-B, Josh Ferguson (37th),
Jordan Wilcox (44th), and Chris Stewart (48th).
Alderson-Broaddus’s
head coach, Jim Seaton was named the West Virginia Conference’s women’s coach
of the year while Wesleyan’s Jesse Skiles was honored as the top men’s coach.
The
Battlers will wrap up their season November 8 when they travel to Slippery
Rock, Pennsylvania to compete in the NCAA Regionals.
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