University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Penn State National
Traynor, Benford Lead Cross Country To Top-10 Finishes At Penn State National
10/17/2008 | Cross Country
Oct. 17, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The University of Richmond cross country teams had their final tune-ups before the Atlantic 10 Championship as Nicol Traynor led the women to a seventh-place finish and Andrew Benford guided the men to ninth overall against a very competitive field at the Penn State National in State College, Pa. on Friday.
A sophomore, Traynor took 11th overall and junior Amy Van Alstine (16th) paced the women's squad, while Benford was 10th overall and fellow junior Matt Llano was 11th.
"Both Nicol and Amy ran very well for us," said head women's coach Lori Taylor. "We're happy with how the team is progressing as we get close to the A-10 Championship meet but still have some work do."
Traynor finished 11th overall in the field of 300 runners with her time in the 6K race of 21:02, followed three seconds behind by Van Alstine (21:05).
"We felt this meet would be a nice gauge for us both in the region and in the conference," said Van Alstine. "We're happy with the results but we know we're going to need to run better as a pack in two weeks for the A-10 meet, then for the NCAA regional."
Freshman Katie Spratford turned in an impressive 44th-place showing with her time of 21:44. Sophomore Diana Filtz finished 55th (21:54), sophomore Julie Rechel was 56th (21:55), senior Mary Bertram was 73rd (22:19) and junior Alyssa Mankin was 80th (22:29).
"Our 1-5 split of 57 seconds was the best of the season," said Taylor. "That was an encouraging sign. With 800 meters to go, both Nicol and Amy were in position to have a chance to win the race, running with five or six All-Americans that were in the field. I know it's only a matter of time before we can put one of these races away."
West Virginia was the women's team champion with host Penn State taking second, followed by Wake Forest, Duke, Tennessee, Kentucky, Richmond, Guelph (Canada), James Madison and Shippensburg in the top 10. La Salle (15th) and George Washington (24th) were the other A-10 schools in the 28-team field.
On the men's side, Benford was clocked at 25:28 in the men's 8K race, finishing 10th overall in the field of 301 runners. Llano was just three seconds back, taking 11th in 25:31.
"Both Andrew and Matt ran tremendous races against very good competition that included six or seven All-Americans in the field," said head men's coach Steve Taylor. "But we still have some work to do as a team as the A-10 and NCAA regional meets get closer. We had a 1-5 split of 1:27 today and that needs to be less than one minute."
"I felt pretty good out there," said Benford, "It was a better race than I had at Lehigh, but we need to get that split down and that's going to take a total team effort at Charlotte in a few weeks."
Sophomore Tim Quinn finished 55th overall (26:23), junior Jon Wilson was 83rd (26:41), freshman Tim Smith was 98th (26:55), junior Jeff Strojny took 121st (27:17) and senior Sean Welsh was 122nd (27:18).
"We know our capabilities as a team," said Llano. "We've done the work in practice and now we need to execute on race day. We'll start to taper over the next two weeks and have our legs under us when we hit the line at Charlotte."
Georgetown won the men's meet, followed by host Penn State, Villanova, Courtland State, Guelph (Canada), La Salle, Kentucky Kent State, Richmond and Yale in the top 10. The other A-10 team in the field of 28 schools was George Washington, which took 23rd.
The Atlantic 10 Championship will be contested Nov. 1 at Charlotte.
