Cross country team not upset after final
meet
By Andres Cardenas
Daily Forty-Niner
The Long Beach State cross-country teams
season ended on Saturday at the Big West Conference Championship with only
team goals on the line.
Head Coach Andy Sythe said he is not disappointed
in the performance of his teams.
Sythe said the goals of both the men's
and women's teams before the season started was to finish in the Top 5
at conference.
Both teams did not meet preseason expectations
as the women placed ninth and the men finished sixth.
Even though goals were not met, Sythe said
he remained positive about how his teams performed in Rocklin.
"I am not disappointed," Sythe said.
Looking at last years results, Sythe said
he was pleased on how much both the men and the women's team's had improved
from last year.
Adam Booth of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
won the men's event with a time of 24 minutes, 49 seconds.
Cal Poly won the team event with a score
of 21.
UC Irvine (71 points) and UC Santa Barbara
(108 points) will join Cal Poly as Big West Representatives in the NCAA
Region 8 Championship on Nov. 13 in Portland, Ore.
The 49er men finished with 147 points with
top finisher Johann Appell finishing one spot out of the Top 10 and a trip
to the NCAA Regional with a time of 25 minutes, 36 seconds.
Larry Henderson was the next 49er to cross,
finishing 24th with a time of 26 minutes, 20 seconds.
Sythe said he was proud of the improvement
the men's team showed from last year.
Appell, Derek DeCicco and Mark Parilla
were the athletes Sythe said showed the biggest improvements from a year
ago.
"Looking at last years results, Johann
Appell finished 47th last year and moved up 36 places this year," Sythe
said.
"Derek DeCicco finished 44th last year
and moved up to 26th. Mark Parilla was 60th last year and moved up to 38th."
As for the women, Sythe said the team had
too many injuries to try to match pre-season goals.
With only six runners at Rocklin, Sythe
said he just wanted maximal effort.
LBSU finished ninth with a score of 254.
Monica MacManus was the top finisher for
the 49ers with a time of 18 minutes, 57 seconds, finishing in 25th place.
UC Irvine won the women's event with a
score of 71.
Joining UCI at the NCAA Regional are Idaho
and Cal Poly.
Abby Peters of Boise State won the women's
individual event with a time of 17 minutes, 54 seconds.
Sythe said he was positive about next year's
teams and said it will have the same goals for next year.
However, Sythe said he will be losing Appell
from the men's team and MacManus, Kim Jackson and Bree Frigo from the women's
team due to graduation.
Sythe said he would like to hold on to
his graduating women a little bit longer since six runners on the women's
team are currently freshmen.
"I just wish our freshmen women had their
leadership above them for another year," Sythe said. |
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