It began like a story with a recurring theme: Cross Country powerhouse from up north visits a local meet; members of said team run incredible times and sweep field in lopsided victory. Unlike the two recent high school invitational meets where this happened (Mountain View at ERAU and Warwick at Edgewater), this was a college meet and the more experienced athletes of UCF, competing over a substantially longer 8K course, refused to give in to Cincinnati’s Xavier College.
UCF junior Daniel Conn was in the thick of the race and gave his perspective afterwards.
“We had a pack of four guys; me, Paul Fitzpatrick, Paul Nielsen and Richie Bonilla. We went out together for the first two miles. The other three guys, Matt Clements, Miles Harris and Baker (Burchfield) were also working together.
“Our coach wanted us to pack it up for the first couple of miles and bring up a couple of guys, especially our fifth guy (Bonilla, a sophomore). After two miles we went for it.”
From the spectator side of it, the result looked like a mad dash for the finish line. Although Xavier’s senior math major Ben Milroy (25:48) convincingly out ran Warner’s Wilbourne Kosgei (26:10) for his first collegiate victory, the real battle for the team championship was going on between the fifth scorers for UCF and Xavier. Sophomore Richie Bonilla of UCF finished exactly the same number of places ahead of Xavier’s Tommy Kauffman, four, as would determine the difference in their score. Final score: UCF 27, Xavier 31.
Their victory comes two weeks from the end of a bittersweet career for the three seniors; Fitzpatrick, Nielsen and Clements. Any successes they will have achieved in 2007 may be their swan song because the men’s Cross Country program has been axed by the school’s athletic department. The harriers from Central Florida are the latest casualty in the war between football and everything else.
“Most of us (seniors) are going to continue running and do marathons. The underclassmen are going elsewhere; Richie, Baker and Miles,” concluded Clements.
“I guess I’ll just finish my degree,” interjected Daniel Conn, a junior. “It’s only a year. I don’t want to lose all of my credits by transferring.”
Their coach, Mason Cathey, looks optimistically to the future. “We’re going to focus on a strong women’s program.” Although finishing third in team scoring, with ten runners returning next year, the Lady Knights should present a strong challenge for next year’s title.
The outcome of the women’s race was a reverse of the men. Xavier’s women, led by freshman Christina Schneider (second in 18:21) and junior Becky Clark (third in 18:29) evened out FIU’s seniors Paola Reategui (first in 18:15) and Deidra Witherspoon (fourth in 18:38), with five points between them. Third and fourth were pretty close too, with FIU even getting ahead by five. But here comes that all-important fifth place runner! FIU sophomore Bethany Moore took the race away from them by virtue of her 14th overall finish, 19 points less than FIU’s last scorer. Final score: Xavier 42, FIU 56.
Schneider took the early lead, but it didn’t last long.
“I got her a little after the two,” said Paola. “I usually hold back in the first mile. I run as hard as I can go in the second and let it all out in the third.”
Although her time was fast, it wasn’t her best. “I ran 18 flat last weekend at Disney. It was supposed to be a flat course, but it was extremely muddy. I want to say that this course was pretty much the same without the mud.”
Finishing in the middle of the pack was Paola’s team mate, Kim Griswold (23:40).
“This was my first college race. I’m a freshman. It’s really different from high school races. The girls are older and faster and that can be intimidating. “
It could be that, or the fact that the upper classmen knew that this meet is sponsored by Sodexho, the catering service that keeps students at Stetson extremely well nurtured.
Isel Ramos, seventh in the food line in 19:14, considered the post race meal a factor in the meet’s growing popularity.
Already seated comfortably under the shade of a big tree when most of the field was still finishing, she smiled and said “It is definitely a factor. The food looks great! I thought it would be one big bowl of pasta with sauce….” It turned out to be salad, baked ziti drowning in cheese, garlic bread, dessert “…and soda. I love soda.”
There you have it. Run fast, eat heartily and come back again next year, y’all.
Footnotes: John Boyle, the meet director, is not only the Stetson cross country coach, but also arguably the most experienced race director in Florida. When he puts on a race, the runners are rarely disappointed. Using every inch of Deland’s Sperling Park, he came up with a challenging and imaginative course that could be viewed from numerous vantage points. It had a wide start, a fast course, lots of varying terrain (including numerous little hillocks and a trail through the woods) and a spectacular finish (provided by Alta Vista Sports Timing). What he and assistant coach Joe Guthrie didn’t think of didn’t matter anyway….The top ten members of ERAU’s cross country team chose to attend a meet in Wisconsin where the Nationals will be held later this season, and will get an early look at a couple of teams they’ll be running against. (Kinosha is also the location of the Footlocker Midwestern Regionals.)