Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
MAC Championships (NIU)
Women's XC Places Seventh at MACs
10/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 29, 2005
DEKALB, Ill. - Central Michigan University made a marked improvement in the standings at the 2005 Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday afternoon in DeKalb, Ill. The Chippewas tied for seventh at the MAC meet after finishing 12th last season.
Akron won the 5K race which was held at the North Forty (Anderson Field) on the campus of Northern Illinois.
The Zips finished with 41 points, followed by Toledo (64), Ball State (117), Ohio (122), Miami (132), Western Michigan (135), CMU and Kent State (183 each), Buffalo (212), Bowling Green (215), Eastern Michigan (284) and host Northern Illinois (320).
"Overall, we made a big improvement," head coach Karen Lutzke said. "We competed well, but we didn't race well enough to finish higher. The final standings are not where we want to be, but we saw some good things."
True freshman Jackie Rivard led the Chippewas in the meet, as she has all season long. She placed 20th with a time of 18:28.
"Jackie was pushed down at the start and when she got up she tried to sprint back up to the front of the pack," Lutzke said. "She had to use so much energy to do that and over the last kilometer she didn't have enough kick left to maintain her position, which was around 12th. I know she felt that she could have had a better race, but if anything, it will motivate her for regionals and next season."
Ashley Anderson, who missed the first few meets of the year with a medical condition, was 31st overall with a time of 18:49.
Also scoring for CMU were Sara Prout, Amanda Rudert, and Teresa Bongiovanni. Prout was 42nd overall in 19:00 and Rudert placed 44th in 19:06. Bongiovanni was 47 overall (46th scoring) in 19:09.
"I believe Anderson is still getting there after missing the first bit of the season and she'll be even better at regionals," Lutzke said. "Our 3-4-5 runners worked well together during the race. It was a learning experience and we felt the improvements since last season were noticeable."
CMU's No. 2 runner finished 59th last season and this year all five scorers placed better than that mark.
The Chippewas are now off until Nov. 12 when they travel to Indiana for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet.
Central Michigan Results
20. Jackie Rivard -- 18:28
31. Ashley Anderson -- 18:49
42. Sara Prout -- 19:00
44. Amanda Rudert -- 19:06
47. (46s) Teresa Bongiovanni -- 19:09
71. (68s) Susan Duncan -- 19:41
90. (80s) Melissa Quisenberry -- 20:12
91. Elizabeth Carpenter -- 20:13
96. Elizabeth Burdick -- 20:26
