LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A nasty flu bug
sent the best-laid plans of the Eastern Oregon cross country men awry
this weekend.
The Mountaineers went into the NAIA
nationals ranked No 1 in the nation. They had high hopes of being the
first Eastern team to win an NAIA national championship.
But, then Alex McGladrey, Brian Crowl
and Michael Greenman, Eastern's three All-Americans from last year,
were stricken with a virus.
Despite the illnesses, Eastern managed
to come in 10th in the nation, but the Mountaineers were hoping for
much more.
"It was extremely frustrating to
have something that out of our control take us out of it," said
coach Ben Welch. "They had a very real chance of doing it (a
championship), if things had gone well. Things didn't have to go
great, they just had to go well."
Minot State, the defending national
champion, won the men's race.
Eastern was led by Eric Griffiths, who
finished 34th. Crowl finished 52nd.
Welch said Griffiths actually ran a
very good race, and Crowl did well in light of how sick he was heading
into the race.
"All things considered, he raced
extremely tough," said Welch.
Tim Riley finished 81st, while
McGladrey, who had a fever Thursday, finished 114th.
The women came in to the race ranked
22nd in the nation and they finished 21st. Jessyca Barker had a good
race, finishing 42nd with a time of 18:50.3. Kelsey Jones came in
76th, while Shannon Edwards finished 127th, Stephanie Colkitt 166th
and Jessica Johnston 184th.
"She (Barker) ran an excellent
race. She did better in this race than last year. It was just a very
deep, fast field this year," said Welch.
Last year, running a time that was 20
seconds slower (albeit, at a different course in Kenosha, Wisc.),
Barker was an All-American, finishing 27th.
The good news for Eastern is that the
men finished second in the nation for having the highest GPA, and that
four of the top runners, Griffiths, McGladrey, Greenman and Schroeder,
will be back next year to take a crack at nationals
2003 NAIA Cross Country
Championships
Men
Team Results
1, Minot State 162; 2, Black Hills
State 172, 3, Simon Fraser, 187; 4, Cal State-San Marcos, 188; 5,
Malone College, 202; 6, Azusa Pacific, 206; 7, Concordia (Neb.), 225;
8, MidAmerica Nazarene, 247; 9, Univ. of British Columbia, 277; 10,
Eastern Oregon, 307; 11, Cumberland, 322; 12, Aquinas, 341; 13, Warner
Southern, 342; 14, Southwestern, 372; 15, Oklahoma Baptist, 391; 16,
Berry, 398; 17, Northwood, 400; 18, Mary, 422; 19, Cedarville, 444;
20, Oklahoma Christian, 506; 21, Milligan, 509; 22, Shawnee State,
515; 23, Concordia (Calif.), 540; 24, Southern Nazarene, 555; 25,
Univ. of Mobile, 578; 26, Lewis-Clark State, 598; 27, Lyndon State,
693; 28, Olivet Nazarene, 766.
Eastern Oregon individual results
1, Jerry Ziak, British Columbia,
24:22.6; 34, Eric Griffiths, 25:47.6; 52, Brian Crowl, 26:07.1; 81,
Tim Riley, 26:29.7; 114, Alex McGladrey, 26:50.9; 116, Pat Egelus,
26:52.2; 133, Michael Greenman, 27:09.1; 140, Ian Schroeder, 27:15.8.
Women
Team Results
1, Simon Fraser, 93; 2, Northwest, 114;
3, Cal State-San Marcos, 177; 4, Indiana Wesleyan, 180; 5, Univ. of
British Columbia, 186; 6, Azusa Pacific, 197; 7 Malone, 212; 8, Black
Hills State, 249; 9, Cedarville, 321; 10, Roberts Wesleyan, 338; 11,
Biola, 340; 12, Point Loma Nazarene, 353; 13, Jamestown, 370; 14,
Concordia (Calif.), 387; 15, Minot State, 394; 16, Oklahoma Baptist,
403; 17, Olivet Nazarene, 416; 18, Concordia (Neb.), 418; 19,
Lewis-State State, 442; 20, Spring Arbor, 444; 21, Eastern Oregon,
452; 22, Milligan, 496; 23, Mary, 506; 24, St. Scholastica, 581; 25,
Benedictine, 593; 26, Warner Southern, 635; 27, Cumblerland, 712; 28,
Loyola-New Orleans, 830.
Eastern Oregon individual results
1, Mirriam Kaumba, Oklahoma Baptist,
17:13.9; 42, Jessyca Barker, 18:50.3; 76, Kelsey Jones, 19:16.9; 127,
Shannon Edwards, 19:42.4; 166, Stephanie Colkitt, 20:04.9; 184,
Jessica Johnston, 20:20.2; 221, Shawna Muchow, 20:54.8; 235, Rian
Finney, 21:25.5.
