Cards Sweep Team, Individual Titles at Saturday's Mid-America Opener
Sept. 1, 2007 EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Louisville men's and women's cross country teams opened 2007 by sweeping the team and individual titles Saturday morning at the Mid-America Opener at the University of Evansville Cross Country Course. Leading the way for U of L was the Cards' women's team which swept the top seven positions in Saturday's 4-kilometer race. The Cards scored 15 points to dominate second-place Evansville with 52 points and third-place Marian College with 88 points. Sophomore Tarah McKay picked up where she left off in 2006 by earning first-place honors and her second career collegiate win. The native of St. Clements, Ont., finished with a time of 14 minutes, 29.80 seconds in her first cross country race since competing at last year's NCAA Championships. Backing up McKay was freshman Emily Borsare in second place with a time of 14:51.80, while sophomore Kelsey Page was third with a time of 15:11.48. Sophomore Kortni Dukes was fourth at 15:14.24, while senior Sarah Weir closed the scoring for the Cards in fifth with a time of 15:16.20. Closing out the top-seven sweep for U of L was senior Taryn Gibson in sixth at 15:22.54 and sophomore Kat Alcorn in seventh at 15:24.85. "The thing that surprised me the most today was that our women made it look very easy," said Cards' head coach Ron Mann. "We ran as a much tighter group today than at any point last season. Tarah did a nice job of leading us out and setting a perfect pace, and I was also impressed with Emily Borsare, who ran extremely easily. And we look to be seven-deep at the top right now and that'll really help us as the season moves forward."
It was also a dominating performance for the Cardinal men's team as U of L had the top six collegiate finishers to score 15 points and dominate the host Aces in second place with 52 points. Leading the way for the Cardinal men, which had a school record setting 15th-place finish at last year's NCAA Championships, was senior Wesley Korir who earned his seventh career win after covering the 6-kilometer course in a time of 17:37.48. The native of Eldoret, Kenya continued his momentum from the outdoor track season, where he earned NCAA All-America honors in the 5,000-meter run with a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships in June. Finishing second overall in Saturday's race for the Cards was senior Soimo Kiplagat with a time of 18:02.71, while junior Cory Thorne was third with a time of 18:06.91. Sophomore Michael Eaton was the fourth highest finishing collegiate runner and fifth overall with a time of 18:23.56, while senior captain Thad Schroeder closed the scoring for U of L finishing seventh overall with a time of 18:40.95. Also competing for the Cards was sophomore Scott McClain in eighth at 18:42.00 and sophomore Matt Smith in 10th at 19:25.96. "I was particularly pleased with Soimo, who ran a nice race today," Mann said. "This was a good, solid start to the season for us. It's really nice to have Michael Eaton healthy and he ran a solid No. 4 to give us a close spread between our top four runners. Once we get a No. 5 runner to come alive, we could have a very good men's team." Following a week off from competition, the Cards will return to action against a strong field of teams at the Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Md., on Sept. 15. Mid-America Opener Evansville, Ind. - Sept. 1, 2007 Men: 6 km / Women: 4 km |
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