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News

The Running Owls take Second in Nationals

Friday Nov. 2nd, the WWC Cross Country Howling Owls competed in the USCAA National Championships at Southern Virginia University.

It was a nice fall day with a high in the low 60's as the Men and Women's team toed up to the starting line with a national cast of teams. (that’s cross country talk for getting ready to run)

Women's Race

The women's 6k route starts with one mile of flats followed by a quarter mile hill that is the key to the race. Do well on the hill, do well in the race.

A runner's strategy on this hill is key. It’s steep enough to contemplate walking. Some choose to walk, some continue running at a slow steady pace and some choose a combination of the two. Training on our mountain trails set the owls up for success.

Going into the hill, Chelsea Gay led the way for the WWC Women, followed closely by Aubrey DeLone and Lillie Friend.

Chelsea emerged from the woods in fourth place but closely
behind the third place runner and being tracked by another in 5th
place. There was 1km left for her to make her move.

Chelsea stepped up her pace and smoked her 5th place follower, then waited patiently for the next uphill to try to leave the third place woman in the dust. Chelsea passed her with under a half mile to go, then set a challenge for the runner—keep up or throw up. (Well, she didn’t actually say that, but when those legs go past you, that is the message).

The fourth place woman took the bait and closed in just before the last incline in the course. As the breath of the third place wanna be hit her neck, Chelsea found overdrive, dropped the lady in a pure surge of speed with 200 meters to go—and grabbed the bronze.

Overall women results:
Chelsea 3rd place plus All American, followed by Lillie Friend(12th), Aubrey Delone(17th), Sarah Fagan(19th), Mary Phillips(21st), Emily
Brigham(23rd), Becca Wood(25th) and Rachel Melo(26th).

Women's 6K Times
Chelsea Gay    26:35
Lillie Friend   29:22
Aubrey DeLone   30:02
Sarah Fagan   31:12
Mary Phillips   32:04
Emily Brigham   32:58
Becca Wood   33:19
Rachel Melo   33:21

Men's Race

The Men's Race was dominated by Dine out of New Mexico. Coach Michales says they have an impressive team that’s a pleasure to watch. I say…why would a cross country team be named Dine??   Where’s the wild animal to attribute all your skill and finesse to? How can you get psyched to run as a Diner??

Three of the top Diners run under a 5 minute mile and two more not far behind; it’s hard to compete with that talent, but not hard to poke fun--but Jason is a nice guy, and was complementary of the first place team, and proud of his men, who had a surprise ending.

The WWC Men did extremely well with a team only five (top 5 score you in a meet). Each of the Great Horned Owls’ contribution is significant in this context and all have to do well to compete as a team. The Men's 8Km course is a duplicate of the women's race. The additional 2k is a grueling, flat out-and-back at the end. WWC men went out at a blistering pace and held together in pursuit of the mighty Diners.

In the first mile, Chas Beiderman held fourth position into the hill followed closely by Kevin Lane and Tal Gold. Emerging from the trails was Chas still in 4th but competing closely with three other runners, behind that pack was Kevin and Tal closely tracking a few other runners. Chas chose an unrelenting fast paced pack for the final 2km, a difficult place to be in such a race.

The group was reduced to three runners, all competing for 5th place overall. The pace increased again in final mile. Chas finished the race in the 8th position with a great time for such a challenging course of 29:06. Kevin and Tal phenomenal finishes as well-- 11th and 12th respectively.

Geoffrey Steen grabbed a personal best for the course in the 17th, and Mike Jolly finished 30th place overall.

As the times were tallied and the scoring completed, the race organizers waited until the awards to announce the team finishes for the men's race. As the team talked about how they wanted to hurry up and get back to Warren Wilson and study and work and do service, they had nearly forgotten the blood and sweat just poured into this event and were surprised by the announcement – barely heard over the roar of the owl fans, that Warren Wilson men took 2nd place overall.

Men's Results
Chas Beiderman   29:06
Kevin Lane   30:14
Tal Gold   30:39
Jeffrey Steen   31:40
Mike Jolly   32:57