October 19, 2008

RAMS CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS GET FINAL TUNE-UPS BEFORE CAA MEET
Full Men's Results

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - In their final tune-ups before the Colonial Athletic Association meet, both Virginia Commonwealth University cross country teams enjoyed a cool fall morning that served its purpose – more experience at the championship distance.

The teams ran in an unscored meet Saturday at Eastern State Hospital called the Tribe Open. The CAA championship meet is Nov. l at Bull Run Park in Manassas.

Senior Joey Wingo was the top finisher among VCU men. He covered the 8K distance in 27 minutes, 22 seconds to place 14th. The meet was won by Ian Fitzgerald, running unattached, in 24:23.

Freshman Heather DelaCruz, who is from Williamsburg, finished fourth in the women’s race with a time of 23:53 for the 6K event. Meredith Tighe of William and Mary was the winner in 23:14. DelaCruz was the only non-William and Mary runner among the top seven finishers.

“It was a good meet for us to get in another race at the championship distance,” women’s assistant coach Ethan Tussing said. “We did what we wanted to do and now we’ll work to make sure we’re ready for a great run on Nov. 1.”

Said men’s head coach Julian Spooner, “We did some different stuff. We looked at it as a workout. We had a couple of guys go out hard and back it off, a couple go out easy and pick it up. We wanted to work on some different things so I wasn’t that concerned about times. We have a couple more weeks before the conference meet and I think we’ll be in good shape.”

Senior Jay Wyss finished 16th in the men’s race in 27:30. Other VCU finishers were freshman Tyler Simmons in 18th at 27:33, junior Piotr Dybas in 20th at 27:47, sophomore Chris Derose in 23rd at 28:38, freshman Ben Rodman in 24th at 28:41, sophomore Ryan Webb in 25th at 28:43 and sophomore John Vial in 25th at 30:13.

For the Rams’ women, sophomore Genova Washington finished in 8th at 24:52 and freshman Nicole Walters was 10th in 25:23. Other VCU finishers were freshman Aubree Washington in 13th at 25:43, senior Samantha Hendel in 14th at 25:47 and freshman Jennifer Dominguez in 16th at 26:30.