GREAT LAKES REGIONAL ...
CLEVELAND, OH (November 10th, 2007) -
For the second straight year, Esther Erb and the seventh ranked Case Western Reserve University women’s cross country team are heading to nationals.
Erb (Richmond, VA-pictured), a senior, finished first overall for her sixth consecutive victory with a time of 21:13.15, pacing the Spartans to a second place finish at Calvin College.
Case Western Reserve and Calvin have been ranked one and two, respectively, in the Great Lakes Regional Poll all season.
Rounding out the top-three was Calvin in first with 46 points, the Spartans in second with 73 points and DePauw finishing in third with 80 points.
The Spartans were one of the first Case Western Reserve athletic teams to compete in national competition last season when they won the Great Lakes Regional and clinched a berth into the national competition. The girls placed 10th last year and hope to finish in the top-five at this years national meet.
Junior Kristin Bowhers (Rochester, NY) finished seventh overall with a time of 22:01.95, junior Britta Kumley (Solon, OH) finished 15th at 22:13.85 and freshman Andrea Fischione (Export, PA) finished 19th with a time of 22:23.55.
Head Coach Kathy Lanese can’t wait for nationals to begin.
“The expectation was for the women to get there [Nationals],” emphasized Lanese. “I don’t think we’ve run our best race yet. I truly feel our best race is yet to come at the national meet and I’m extremely excited about that.”
Getting to nationals is no easy task for cross country programs that do not finish in first or second as a team at nationals. Only 16 teams automatically qualify (two per region) for a trip to Minnesota. Then, 16 at-large teams are selected based on; regional placing, late-season performance, head to head competition, gap times amongst runners within teams at regionals, regional meet results and late-season meet results. When all is said and done, 56 student-athletes will automatically qualify (seven per region).
The Spartans travel to Minnesota to compete in the 2007 NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championships next Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
Results
Individual Results
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