Covenant News

Vikings Cross Country Teams Make Good Showing

CHICAGO, IL (September 21, 2005) - Both North Park University Vikings cross country teams made strong showings Saturday at the Concordia University of Wisconsin Cross Country Invitational, with the women running close on the heels of top regional programs.

The women captured third place, trailing only the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, who are the Division III Midwest champions, and NAIA running powerhouse St. Sholastica College.

"The women did a tremendous job today," said Coach Tracey Murnane. "We ran with some of the best programs in the Midwest today, and we were able to compete with them."

Murnane added, "We gained a lot of confidence in ourselves and our abilities and we are starting to believe in our potential."

Junior Shannon McInnis ran a personal best of 19:45 to place fifth. Seniors Kari Thompson, Becky Gritter, and Allison Weller narrowly missed the Top 10, placing 11th, 12th, and 13th with times of 20:19, 20:21, and 20:23. Freshman,Tiffany Schwartz placed 43rd with a time of 22:00.

Other Vikings finishers included newcomer Britta Nylen (59th, 23:44), Senior Liz Podczaski (60th, 23:46), freshman Laura Papageorgiou (62nd, 24:09), newcomer Elise Lindell (80th, 26:09), and junior Amy Peters (102nd, 29:11).

The men dramatically improved their individual times so that the team took ninth (254 points) of the 18 teams competing.

Senior and team captain Luke Johnson ran 31:49, which was 56 seconds faster over last week. Sidney Dichoso finished right behind at 31:54, improving his time by 1:40. Marcus Simmons crossed the finish line in 32:50 (2:39 improvement), freshman Daniel Jones finished his second career 8K in 33:20 (2:37 improvement), and sophomore Joel Ylagan rounded out the top five by running a 35:42 (a 2:24 improvement).

Other North Park finishers included Daniel Michel - 36:55 (3:00 improvement), Anthony King - 37:42 (3:28 improvement), and Matt Cappetta 40:03 (5:18 improvement from last week's 8K race).

"This was a great day for a meet and our runners really took advantage of this opportunity," said Coach Elliott Nott. "After our first three weeks of practice and increasing our mileage, we took it a little easier this fourth week. The guys have been looking really good in workouts and I knew that they were ready for some big improvements."

The Vikings will take next weekend off from racing to be involved in a special service day in Chicago. The teams will compete October 1 in the Lakefront Invitational, which will be hosted by Loyola University. Women race at 11:00 a.m. and men start at 11:30 a.m. at the Montrose Avenue Beach on Lake Shore Drive.

In other sports news:

The women's soccer team shut out both its opponents over the weekend, dropping Concordia (WI) 2-0, and outgunning Alverno 11-0. The victories boosted the Vikings' record to 5-1-1.

The team has found the net repeatedly, having scored 31 goals in seven games. During the same stretch, the team has recorded four shutouts. The Vikings only loss came against Wheaton, who is ranked No. 1 in the country.

The men's soccer team lost 3-0 to Loras, which dropped the team's record to 2-4-0. The team had started the season with two victories but has stumbled against the last four opponents, who have been ranked nationally or regionally.

The volleyball team lost last night to Elmhurst 3-0, but defeated Moody 3-0 last week.

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