November 1, 2008

VCU MEN PLACE FIFTH AT CAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Wyss earns All-CAA honors with 12th-place finish
Full Results

MANASSAS, Va. – It was a good day in some regards, and not such a good day in others for the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s cross country team at the Colonial Athletic Association championships.

VCU finished fifth Saturday at Bull Run Park. Senior Jay Wyss (Richmond, Va.) was the Rams’ top runner. He came in 12th, earning the final spot on the All-CAA team.

“We were hoping for better,” said VCU coach Julian Spooner. “Our goal coming in wasn’t to get fifth. If everything had gone well, I think we could have finished second.”

William and Mary dominated the team portion by placing runners in positions 2-8 to capture its ninth straight championship. The individual champion is junior Mark Steeds of Georgia State, who covered the eight kilometers in 23 minutes, 56 seconds. That was four seconds better than runner-up Colin Leak, a junior at William and Mary. Wyss’ time was 25:09.

VCU’s top runner, junior Stephen Mutisya (Machakos, Kenya), wasn’t able to complete the run. Mutisya has been dealing with a stress fracture in his left leg. He’d skipped the team’s recent meets in the hope he could be healed for the CAA race. He tried to run but wasn’t able to go very far.

“We’re not that deep, so you take your No. 1 guy out and that hurts,” Spooner said. “If he’s able to run his normal race, maybe we can get second.”

Wyss, too, had to deal with health issues. He had problems with his asthma during the race, Spooner said, but hung on to crack the top 12 and make All-CAA.

“On a good day, he could have been higher. I’m proud of him for hanging in there and getting the finish he did out of it,” Spooner said.

Also scoring for VCU were sophomore Piotr Dybas (Jaslo, Poland) (left), who finished 21st in 25:32; senior Joey Wingo (Richmond, Va.), who finished 28th in 25:51, freshman Tyler Simmons (Woodbridge, Va.), who finished 38th in 26:22; and senior Tim Rusterholz (Lewisville, N.C.), who finished 56th in 27:31.

Others running for VCU were sophomore Chris Derose (Alexandria, Va.), 58th in 27:34; sophomore Ben Rodman (Williamsburg, Va.), 72nd in 28:35; and sophomore Ryan Webb (Mechanicsville, Va.), 74th in 28:57.

“Joey ran a good race. He was right at his personal best,” Spooner said. “Tyler had a good race at No. 4. Chris set a personal best. We’ll keep working, keep building that depth.”

Depth, Spooner noted, is part of what makes William and Mary so good. Besides finishing in the 2nd-8th slots, the Tribe had three more runners in the next five spots.

“They have depth, they have tradition. Give credit where credit is due. They’re a quality team. They’re the class of the conference,” Spooner said.

VCU will next compete in two weeks at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet in Clemmons, N.C.