The University of Akron Athletics
MAC Championship Meet On Horizon For Akron Runners
October 26 | Cross Country
AKRON, Ohio - Preparations are about complete as the University of Akron men's and women's cross country teams pack up and head to DeKalb, Ill., for the 2005 Mid-American Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships October 29 at Anderson Field on the campus of Northern Illinois University.
The women's 5,000-meter championship race will begin at noon EDT (11 a.m. CDT) while the men's 8,000-meter event will begin at 1 p.m. EDT (noon CDT).
The women enter the race following an eighth place finish at the Penn State National Meet on October 15. Beata Rudzinska (Ilawa, Poland-University of Gdansk) ended the day in fifth place, crossing the line in a time of 20:49. On the season, Akron has posted two team and two individual victories and were picked to finish second in the MAC in the preseason poll.
"We viewed the season as a progression and have taken each meet seriously, but with other goals," women's head coach Scott Jones said. "We have ran just one complete team race, but we have continued to prepare well for the championship portion of our season. Now we are judging our season on performance, not improvement. We are in the position to compete for a championship and that is where we want to be."
Rudzinska led the Zips to a third-place finish at last year's
championship after placing third in the race. Jennie Castle and
Morgan Sulzener (New Philadelphia, Ohio-New Philadelphia) also
finished in the top-10 for the Zips, with Castle in sixth place and
Sulzener in eighth place. Rudzinska and Castle earned first-team
All-MAC honors while Sulzener earned second-team All-Conference
accolades. The Zips return six of their seven runners from last
year.
"We thought we could win the title last year and we were in a position to win, but things did not fall into place," Jones said. "That was a sore spot for us. With that incentive and the maturity that we return to the course this year, I am very confident in our chances on Saturday."
The men enter this year's event following a 21st-place finish at the Penn State National Meet on October 15. David Howard (Canal Fulton, Ohio-Northwest) was the top runner for the Zips on the day, finishing in 77th place in a time 26:39. The men ended the season with one victory and three top-10 finishes in five races this season.
"Overall, we have had a good season and we have seen a lot of improvements from this position last year," men's head coach Rick Williamson said. "We have been working towards this point in the season and, even though we are proud of our accomplishments so far, this is one of the meets that mean the most to us."
Howard leads an experienced squad to the MAC Championship meet after earning second-team All-MAC honors last season as the Zips finished in sixth place, their best conference championship finish since joining the MAC. Picked to finish sixth in this season's preseason poll, Akron returns five runners from last year's conference lineup, including Howard, David Pykare (Cortland, Ohio-Maplewood), Scott Mate (Stow, Ohio-Stow Munroe Falls), Jeff Swartzel (Canal Fulton, Ohio-Northwest) and Craig Rupe (Cortland, Ohio-Maplewood).
"For a couple of runners, this is a fourth trip to the conference championship and that is a great asset to have," Williamson said. "This is a more intense meet with only nine teams running and any experience that we can have on the course is helpful. I look for a solid team performance and I hope to better our performance from last year."
