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Oct. 2, 2009

 

Women's Individual Results    
Women's Team Results      
Men's Individual Results   
Men's Team Results

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The 49er Cross Country team swept the Charlotte Invitational as the men and women took home the team title behind the performances of five top-ten finishers by the Charlotte runners. Adu Dentamo claimed the men's individual title with a time of 24:13.7 in the 8K race, while Amanda Goetschius was the women's top finisher claiming second place with a time of 17:09.8 in the 5K race.

The women's team accumulated only 47 points to give them the victory over Clemson, who compiled 55 points and third-place finisher USC Upstate with 125 points. The men had a larger margin of victory by finishing with 62 points and were followed by runner-up Clemson with 89 points and third-place finisher UNC Greensboro with 101 points.

The women and men have won every Charlotte Invitational that has been held dating back to the inaugural meet in 2007.

"I was very excited with our performance in our home meet because it is one thing to think that you can achieve a goal, but it is a completely different thing to go out and actually achieve that goal," stated Coach Ed Schlichter. "We were able to capitalize on all of our hard training in practice and it showed with personal records for most of our runners."

Rounding out the top five behind Goetschius for the women were Keara Thomas (4th place, 17:32.4), Maria Ruiz (12th place, 17:58.9), Kristin Mitchell (14th place, 18:09.7) and Sarah Willingham (15th place, 18:12.2). The title was the first of the season for the women, but was also the first time in which Charlotte has fielded their top runners in a race. Also placing for Charlotte were Laura McCary (20th place, 18:23.0) and Janet Barry (30th place, 18:49.2).

Other Charlotte runners in the race were Justine Thompson (19:04.3), Jackie Ross (19:09.4), Christina Hobbs (19:12.9), Emily Harris (19:45.7), Tricia Brown (19:52.3), Katie Holloway (20:24.7), Ashley Edwards (20:27.2) and Alyssa Bradley (20:37.9).

Rounding out the men's top five were Chase Eckard (5th place, 25:10.5), Dakota Lowery (10th place, 25:21.8), Brian McGuire (20th place, 25:53.7) and Will Taylor (26th place, 26:02.0). The title was also the first for the men of the season, but like the women this was also the first meet in which a full squad was fielded. Also placing for the men were Ross Roberson (30th place, 26:14.4) and Daniel Stiefvater (31st place, 26:19.1).

Competing for the men, but not placing in the top-seven were Javan Lapp (26:43.1), Daweet Dagnachew (26:45.6), Chris Capps (26:55.0) and David Eubanks (28:32.3).

In a field that was stacked with four regionally-ranked Division I squads, Charlotte was able to overcome an early deficit to claim the 2009 Charlotte Invitational titles.

"We were definitely trailing in both races around the mile marker, but we have been preaching in practice for our runners to finish strong and they were able to accomplish that today by making a comeback in the race."

The cross country team's focus will now turn to the NCAA Pre-Nationals in two weeks on October 17th in Terre Haute, Ind., which is also the site for the NCAA Championship in late November.

"Even though we ran great today, we are going to have to get faster for the Pre-National because it is a much bigger race and a much faster race since the competition is so stiff," said Schlichter. "We are going to try and continue to improve across the board and get faster in preparation for that race."