NGU Skyliner

Billy Cannada
Staff Writer

The men and women’s cross country teams wrapped up the 2009 season by capturing third place at Thursday’s Wingate Cross Country Pre-Conference Invitational. Neither team was able to qualify for the regional race.

Head coach Micah Sepko said that although the cross country team did not make regionals, it was still a good season.

“Obviously regionals is what you strive for as a team,” Sepko said. “But we were dealing with some injuries this year and it was an overall successful season for us.”

Anita Casey, sophomore psychology, led the Lady Crusaders, as she did the entire season, placing seventh with a five-kilometer time of 22:36. Not far behind, Shana Sears, junior English, Ariel Seppala, senior interdisciplinary studies, and Jill Forthaus, freshman intercultural studies, were able to place 10th, 11th, and 12th respectively with times of 23:24, 23:25, and 23:46.

In a change of pace, the men were lead by Senior T.C. Ford, who placed 10th with a five-kilometer time of 18:33. Daniel Stockwell, junior secondary english education, and Andrew Mosteller, freshman youth ministry, were able to place 12th and 15th with times of 18:50 and 18:51. This was the first time all season that Mosteller did not finish first for North Greenville.

“Everyone has their off days,” Stockwell said jokingly. “I was able to get in front of Andrew, and I thought to myself, ‘at least I can say I was in front of him for a few seconds during a race.’ I ran as fast as I could go for the last 100 yards and I ended up beating him, which felt pretty good.”

The Crusaders have had a busy two weeks racing at the Belmont Abbey Invitational on Oct. 3 and the Furman Invitational on Oct. 10.

The men were able to take fourth at Belmont Abbey, while the women also came in fourth place. The Crusaders then had what they believed to be a solid showing at the Furman Invitational (a Division 1 race) with the women placing 13th and the men placing 14th.

Casey continued to lead the pack for the Lady Crusaders in both races placing 11th at Belmont Abbey with a five-kilometer time of 21:35, and 64th at the Furman Invitational with a five-kilometer time of 23:00.

Mosteller also remained the Crusader men’s top finisher grabbing seventh place at Belmont Abbey with an eight-kilometer time of 31:07, and placing 82nd at the Furman Invitational with an eight-kilometer time of 31:24.

The Crusaders were not able to achieve their goal of racing in regionals, but they believe that there is plenty of room for improvement and plan on getting better in the off-season.

“It was disappointing,” Casey said. “But there is potential for this team and we are going to work hard over the summer to get better.”

Mosteller, who was impressive as a freshman, believes that this young Crusader team will be better next year.
“We should do really well next year,” Mosteller said. “We are going to work hard, buckle down and make it to regionals.”

Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 6

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.