Long Beach State University Athletics
Off Day Can't Dispel Future
11/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Off Day Can't Dispel Future for The Beach FRESNO, CA-- If a couple of years down the line the 49er cross country team looks back at the 2004 season as a building block, the men's 15th place and the women's 20th place finishes at the NCAA Regionals, will just be a piece of the foundation. The 49er cross country team, which turned in some of the fastest times in school-history this season, may have had off race on Saturday, but the team's immediate success is on the horizon. "I'm really excited about the job our distance coach Matt Roe did in such a short amount of time," said track and field director Andy Sythe. "He started September 1 and accomplished a great deal. He's the right guy, an excellent coach and the distance program here has a bright future. I'm especially proud of our athletes, and our seniors, who ran consistency all year." The men's team finished in 15th place with 412 points, while the women were 20th with 561 points. Stanford won both the men's and women's titles. "On the women's side, our core ran well, especially Alyssum Skejeie, but our top two had off days and that hurt us in the standings. The men ran pretty well, and though it won't show in the points, our team is much better than last year. Jake Kruczynski ran a great final race to cap off his career" said Roe. "We are not a program that shys away from anyone, this experience today will make us sucessful program in the future." Jimmy Grabow (Running Springs) was the 49ers top finisher, running 32:09 for 61st place, while Meredith Kramon (Larkspur) finished off her first season ever of cross country as the top 49er female with a time of 22:39 for 92nd place. Kramon's time was just four second's off the seventh-fastest 6K time in school-history, which she set two weeks ago at the Big West Championships. Wohan Ovalle was the second 49er to cross the finish line, finishing in 81st place (32:44), while Nicole Blalock (Orange), developed abdominal cramps mid-way through the race and battled to a 110th-place showing (22:59). "We had a really good season. We had a strong group of girls, who are all young and who are all coming back next season," said Blalock, who set the fastest 6K time in school-history and who also had the sixth-fastest 5K time in school-history in 2004. Grabow, who ran the fastest 5K time of any 49er since 1987 and the third-fastest time overall, echoed those thoughts, "In the three months that I have been here, our team made great leaps and we were able to click as a team. That is pretty impressive." WEST REGIONAL | Fresno, CA | Woodward Park 49er Individuals 10K: 61. Jimmy Grabow, 32:09; 81. Wohan Ovalle, 32:44; 84. Jacob Kruczynski 32:49; 101. Jason Bruton 33:25; 106. Scot Breithaupt 33:34; 111. Daniel Estrella 33:44; 125. Kenny Lawrence 34:18. Top-10 Women's Team Scores: Stanford 29, Arizona 45, UC Santa Barbara 92, Idaho 140, Washington 143, UCLA 151, Arizona 245, Oregon 272, Cal Poly 278, Washington State 320, 20. Long Beach State 561 49er Individuals 6K: 92. Meredith Kramon, 22:39; 110. Nicole Blalock, 22:59; 118. Bethany Gardner, 23:09; 136. Danielle Miller, 23:27; 155. Alyssum Skejeie, 23:46; 173. Morgan Noe, 24:20; Crystal Roethlisberger, 24:32 |
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