Cross Country

(PRINCETON, W.VA)-The WVIAC Cross Country Championships return to Southern West Virginia as Pipestem State Park hosts the annual meet on Friday afternoon. Regionally ranked West Virginia Wesleyan, Alderson-Broaddus, and Charleston head up the field on the women's side, while A-B, Wesleyan, and defending champion Concord are top contenders for the men's title.

The women's field is deep and senior dominated as nine of ten members of last season's all-conference team return. Alderson-Broaddus senior Heather McDaniel will defend her 2004 championship. McDaniel was the conference's Runner of the Year last season after claiming the conference championship by 27 seconds at Camp Virgil Tate in Kanawha County. The two-time WVIAC Runner of the Week seeks her fourth consecutive all-conference honor. The Grafton native has only been defeated once by a WVIAC runner this season when she finished three seconds behind teammate Katrina Jones at the Elizabethtown College meet this past weekend.

West Virginia Wesleyan's Stephanie Hatfield and Ohio Valley's Amy Green also are in search of their fourth straight All-WVIAC awards. Other top contenders include Jones (A-B), Leah Erenrich (WVW), Erin Cipolat (UC), and Amanda Maxwell (A-B). Nicole Tingler (A-B), Erin Pyles (UC), and Erin Price (WVW) rate among the top rookies. Emily Tilson, a Marion, VA native, also ranks among the top freshmen for host Concord.

The team battle should also be tight as West Virginia Wesleyan, Alderson-Broaddus, and Charleston hold down the sixth through eighth spots in the East Region rankings. Defending titleist Wesleyan, who edged A-B 36-37 last year, has won nine of the past ten championships. Upstarts A-B and UC are hungry for the first championships in school history.

The men's championship picture is less muddled as Alderson-Broaddus is heavily favored. The Battlers, who were a unanimous preseason pick to win their first conference title since 2001, have not dissapointed. A-B has not lost to a conference foe thus far and is ranked fifth in the region. Ninth ranked West Virginia Wesleyan is the only other ranked team in the meet. Concord, Davis & Elkins, Wheeling Jesuit, and Charleston look to play spoiler's roles.

A-B's Scott Gemberling is the highest returning finisher from last season's men's meet. He finished four seconds behind Concord's Takuya Abe in 2004 to finish second. Steve Johnson, a two-time WVIAC Runner of the Week, provided the Battlers with a fifth place finish last season. A-B has another two-time Runner of the Week in Ben Bolock.

West Virginia Wesleyan senior Jason Gurney seeks to become only the third Bobcat in school history to achieve all-conference honors for four consecutive seasons. Alex Flores (UC), along with freshmen Ryan Skotnicki (A-B), Eric Cooper (WVW) and Pat Reagan (WVW), also should be in contention. Boone County natives Nick Bias and Michael Smutko hope to keep Concord near the top of the pack.

The men's 8K race will begin at 12:00 noon with the women's 5K event to follow at 1:00 p.m. A junior varsity meet is slated to start at 10:00 a.m. The rolling course begins directly across from the horse stables and campgrounds at Pipestem State Park in Summers County.