UB cross country weekly release
11/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Men Place Sixth, Women 11th at MAC Championships
The postseason got underway at the Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday in Kalamazoo, MI. The UB men placed sixth among nine teams with 122 points as Eastern Michigan won the team title with 66 points. The women were 11th in a 12-team field with 276 points, two points behind 10th-place Ball State (274). Toledo won the women's title with 44 points.
Bloom Captures All-MAC Honor
Senior Ryan Bloom earned All-MAC honors on Saturday for the second time in his career. Bloom finished 13th overall in the men's 8K race in 25:09.4 in a field of 75 runners to earn inclusion on the second-team All-MAC. Bloom's time was a season best at 8K as he took more than forty seconds off his previous best. The top seven finishers in the men's and women's championship races earn first-team All-MAC honors with the next seven finishers being named to the second team. Bloom was a first-team honoree in 2008 and this is the third consecutive year that a UB men's runner has earned all-league honors. Dennis Pollow was named to the second-team All-MAC in 2009.
Sprehe Paces Women's Runners
The UB women were paced by Christine Sprehe as she finished 45th among 105 runners in 22:40.2, also a season best for the women's 6K distance. Sprehe sliced 36 seconds from her season-best time set two weeks ago at Penn State. It was the first time this season that Sprehe had finished as UB's top placer.
Mitchell's Musings
Head coach Vicki Mitchell commented following the MAC Championships about her teams. "The men ran a fantastic and competitive race. Ryan Bloom made UB history by becoming the first male to ever earn two All-MAC honors in cross country. His race was nothing short of inspiring. John Inzina had the breakthrough race of the day for the team. Not only did he run a big personal best over the 8K distance, but he also moved up significantly over the last 1,000 meters of the course to place 16th and just missing All MAC honors. The competition in this year's field was the deepest and most competitive in over 10 years, with just 25 points separating four teams. In the women's race, Christine Sprehe had her best MAC performance ever, moving up almost 40 places from her previous best. Being just two points from Ball State was tough, but also a significant improvement over earlier this season and last year. Despite a somewhat depleted team due to the injuries, I am extremely proud of the women and their efforts."
Northeast Regionals in Two Weeks
Both squads will compete at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on November 13. This will be the first time that the regional meet will be held in Madison, CT as over the past several years, the locale has been Boston or New York City. "Our men have sights set on breaking into the top 15, and our women hope to break into the top 20. Our focus now is to recovery from MAC's, and get healthy so everyone is ready to go," said Mitchell.
