SEAN EARL INVITATIONAL...
CLEVELAND, OH (September 29, 2007) -
The 27th ranked Case Western Reserve University men’s cross country team competed in the Gold Division and finished 9th out of 21 teams at the 35th annual Loyola of Chicago Sean Earl Invitational in Chicago, Illinois.
Taking the Gold was Malone University with 46 points followed by Iowa, Creighton and Western Ontario. Case finished 9th overall with 222 points ahead of Division I Purdue University and five points behind Wheaton College, who is ranked 9th nationally.
The Spartans were tested mightily during this race and performed very well.
“I am so pleased,” said Head Coach Kathy Lanese. "If the men had run Maroon we would’ve been first by at least twenty points.”
The men placed second at the Maroon Division last year and were permitted to race in the Gold with Division I, II, III, NAIA and Canadian schools because of their 2006 performance and 2007 ranking.
 Performing nicely for Case was junior Dominic Smith (New Richmond, OH-pictured) who placed 7th overall out of 233 student-athletes with a time of 24:59. Smith won last week's College of Wooster Invitational and continues to establish himself as a big key to the Spartans national hopes.
Many Spartans contributed in this challenging race including junior Ryan Gjoraas (Plymouth, MN) who placed 47th with a time of 26:02. Junior Captain Mike Petro (Cincinnati, OH) placed 53rd with a time of 26:08. Sophomore’s Austin Schmidt (Lexington, OH) and Reza Mohammadpour (Mayfield, Hts, OH) placed 72nd and 73rd respectively, both finishing with a time of 26:25. Freshman Ethan Kleinbaum (Rutherford, NJ) ran a great race with a time of 26:51
“I’m really glad we moved up [Divisions], we really got a taste of what the national meet and regional meet are going to be about and were able to get some of that nervous energy out of the way.” Said Lanese. "The guys kept saying how different the speed is from Division I to Division III, but they sat back and were patient. The team continued to sit back and run in a pack; before they knew it they were passing so many teams.”
The Spartans will travel to Delaware, Ohio Friday for the All-Ohio Championships at Ohio Wesleyan University. The meet begins at 2:00 p.m.
Team Results
Individual Results
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