Long Beach State University Athletics
Split Squad Finishes 5th and 9th
10/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Split Squad Finishes Fifth and Ninth at Cal Poly SAN LUIS OPISPO, CA-- Long Beach State cross country, which held out most of its top runners, finished fifth on the men's side and ninth on the women's side at the Cal Poly Invitational, it the team's final tuneup before the Big West Championships on October 30. Jason Bruton was the top finisher on the men's side in the 8K, finishing 17th with a time of 27:06.2, while Daniel Estrella finished 27th with a time of 27:27.0. The men's team raced to a fifth place finish with 118 points, behind overall winner, Cal Poly, who's "B" team finished with 51 points. "Bruton and Estrella both ran excellent races," said first year Distance Coach Matt Roe. "Bruton has gone from not making the team a year ago to being our top runner this weekend. It just shows his maturity has a runner and an individual. Estrella had struggled so far this year, but he had a strong string of training runs over the past couple of weeks and now I expect him to be set for conference." Ovalle Wolhan, who was expected to be the team's top runner this weekend, fell on the course and developed abdominal cramps, but finished was able to finish 45th with a time of 28:07.9. Jimmy Grabow, the team's top runner, was held out of the race. "He just had a string of bad luck and that ended up hurting us in the team scoring," said Roe of Ovalle. "The good news is there is no structural damage and he should run really well at conference." The women, who held out its top two runners, Nicole Blalock and Meredith Kramon, finished in ninth place with 223 points. UC Irvine won the women's 5K with 50 points. Crystal Roethlisberger finished in 25th place with a time of 19:06.7, while Bethany Gardner was 29th with a time of 19:18.4. Morgan Noe (20:05.3) and Alyssum Skjeie (20:52.4) were both racing in just their second meets of the year "We ran solid across the board," said Roe. "Roethlisberger showed some veteran leadership and should score high for us at conference and regionals. Gardner helped our second group through and led us throughout the race. Noe was able to get her feet wet and did an excellent job. She is finally healthy and able to contribute for us. Everyone had a good race." TOP-10 TEAM SCORES WOMEN'S 5K (of 11) 49ER FINISHERS: 25. Crystal Roethlisberger, 19:06.7; 29. Bethany Gardner, 19:18.4; 50. Danielle Miller, 19:33.8; 73. Morgan Noe, 20:05.3; 91. Alyssum Skjeie, 20:52.4 TOP-9 TEAM SCORES - MEN'S 8K (of 9) 49ER FINISHERS: 17. Jason Bruton, 27:06.2; 27. Daniel Estrella, 27:27.0; 33. Jacob Kruczynski, 27:40.3; 35. Andy Ponce de Leon, 27:49.7; 41. Scot Breithaupt, 28:00.9; 45. Wohan Ovalle, 28:07.9; 71. Randy Hills, 29:33.1 |
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