RICHARD LED GOLDEN EAGLES SET FOR 2007 CROSS COUNTRY SEASON

            The 2007 Clarion University women’s cross country team led by track All-American Erin Richard is set for the 2007 season which begins Saturday at California.

            “We’re excited to get the season started,” second-year head coach Jayson Resch said. “The primary goal for the team is to develop our young talent and to focus on being prepared to run our best at the PSAC Championships and the Regional Championships.”

            The Golden Eagles finished sixth at Regionals and seventh at PSAC’s in 2006.

            This season, Richard (Sr.; Erie/McDowell), an All-Region (11^th place) finisher last season in cross country and a 3-time All-American in track (5,000 indoor; 5,000, 10,000 outdoor) this past winter and spring, will be expected to lead a pack of talented but young Clarion runners.

            “Erin is trying to establish herself as one of the top distance runners in Division II,” Resch said. “To do that, she has to be successful at both track and cross country. Her primary expectation this year is to be All-Region again and to qualify for nationals, which will mean a Top Five finish at the Regionals. She has really focused on developing strength to help her on some of the cross country courses we will run, and her primary focus over the summer was cross country.”

            Richard isn’t the only experienced runner back for the Golden Eagles.

Juniors Caitlin Palko (Pittsburgh/North Hills) and Kate Ehrensberger (St. Marys/Elk County Catholic) are also expected to be top performers this fall.

Palko finished 47^th at Regionals and 53^rd at PSAC’s a year ago and was a PSAC qualifier in the Indoor and Outdoor 5,000 during the track season.

Ehrensberger, meanwhile, finished 35^th at PSAC’s and 49^th at Regionals in cross country in 2006 while placing second at the PSAC Indoor Track meet in the 800.

“Caitlin and Kate are both looking to have solid seasons,” Resch said. “They are definitely in our Top Four.”

Clarion High School graduate Molly Smathers, who attended Bloomsburg the past two seasons but didn’t race, is the fourth member of the Top Four. She finished seventh in District 9 in cross country in 2004 and was a PIAA state qualifier in the 800 in track in 2005.

“Molly’s training has gone very well,” Resch said. “She has established herself early on as one of our top runners with her wok ethic. At the same time, there will be a learning element when it comes to racing at the college level. It will be a matter of her getting into college racing and learning some of the race strategies at this level. But she has handled training well.”

Additional key runners for the Golden Eagles will be senior Amanda Maholtz (St. Marys/St. Marys) and sophomores Suzanne Schwerer (Wexford/Pine-Richland) and Lisa Nickel (Pittsburgh/Shaler).

Maholtz was a PSAC qualifier in the Indoor 800 as a sophomore and has plenty of collegiate experience, while Schwerer was the WPIAL champion in the mile in 2005 and got plenty of collegiate racing experience last season. Nickel, meanwhile, was red-shirted in cross country last fall while running a personal best 5:03 in the 1,500 during the track season. 

Three freshmen are also expected to play strong roles on the team including Kate Reinhart (Gibsonia/Pine-Richland; PIAA qualifier in 2005), Annmarie Clifford (Little Egg Harbor, NJ/Pinelands Regional; New Jersey Group III qualifier) and Rachel Slade (Indiana/Penns Manor).

GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES – Clarion has four collegiate meets and the Clarion United Way 5K (Sept. 29) on its schedule before the PSAC Championships, which are Oct. 27 at Kutztown. The Regional is set for Nov. 3 at Lock Haven and the NCAA D-II championship is Nov. 17 in Missouri … Senior Tasha Wheatley led Clarion at PSAC’s last season earning All-PSAC honors with a fifth-place finish. She was Clarion’s first All-PSAC finisher since Melissa Terwilliger took ninth in 2004, and the fifth-place ending was the highest for a Clarion runner since Terwilliger was third in 2003 … Clarion had a banner year in cross country in 2002 when the Golden Eagles were second at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals, third at PSAC’s and 20^th in the nation … Richard missed last season’s PSAC meet with an injury but more than made up for it in track and field. In addition to her three All-American awards, she won three PSAC gold medals (Indoor Mile, Outdoor 3,000, 5,000) and was named the PSAC women’s Track Athlete of the Year and was the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) East Region Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. Richard also excels in the classroom and earned third-team ESPN The Magazine Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country Academic All-America, first-team District 2 College Division ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District and the PSAC Spring Top 10 Academic Award as well as being named a Clarion and PSAC “Scholar-Athlete” last year … In her career, she has won seven combined indoor and outdoor PSAC titles with all seven coming over the past two seasons.