News Release Date:
Thursday, October 30
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| Sara McCune |
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| Yasmeen Colis |
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Whitman College will send its top 20 runners into the fray Saturday when it hosts the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships at Veterans Memorial Golf Course.
At the heart of the Whitman women's team, which has its sights set on a top three finish, are six juniors -- Yasmeen Colis, Sara McCune, Michela Corcorran, Heather O'Moore, Emily Rodriguez and Kate Ceronsky -- and sophomore Kristen Ballinger, a standout who ran last year for NCAA Div. III national champion Amherst College.
The women's contingent also includes first-year Missionaries Sara Levy, Jennifer Farley and Kira Peterson.
Ballinger, Colis and McCune have run as Whitman's top three in its last two meets. Corcorran has run fourth for the Missionaries while O'Moore, Rodriguez and Levy filled out the next two spots.
Junior Matthew Kelly and sophomore Sam Hennessey, along with senior captains Nick Littman and Ian Bell, lead a Whitman men's squad that hopes to better its sixth-place finish from the past two years.
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| Matt Kelly |
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| Sam Hennessey |
Others running for the men are juniors Curtis Reid, John Callow and Terrence Reid, sophomore Daniel Luecke and freshmen Erick Aguayo and Brendan Boyer.
Kelly and Hennessey ran first and second for Whitman in the team's last
two events. Littman and Bell were third and fourth for the
Missionaries with Luecke rounding out the top five.
At the NWC women's championships last year, Corcorran had Whitman's top finish, placing 16th. Colis was 17th and McCune 21. Two years ago, it was McCune at the front of the Missionary pack, placing 14th while Colis was 19th and Corcorran 20th.
O'Moore is also making her third appearance at the championship meet. She placed 53rd and 50th in her two previous races.
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| Nick Littman |
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| Kristen Ballinger |
Rodriguez ran for the Missionaries at last year's NWC final, placing 52nd. Ceronsky, who did not compete the past two years, ran at the 2005 championships, placing 41st.
On the men's side, seven Missionaries have past championship experience. Kelly placed 34th and 37th at the two previous NWC meets. Littman finished 42nd at last year's race, the best of his three previous appearances at the conference meet.
Bell made his second appearance last year, placing 43rd. Also placing for Whitman at last year's championship race were Luecke 52nd, Callow 54th, Terrence Reid 56th, and Hennessey 62nd. Two years ago, Curtis Reid finished 52nd to cap his freshman year.
After Saturday's NWC championships, head coach Malcolm Dunn will take his top seven men and top seven women to the NCAA Div. III West Region Championships on Saturday, Nov. 15. That event will take place in Salem, Ore.
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CONTACT: Dave Holden
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