FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCT. 24, 2001

GOLDEN EAGLE CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS PREPARE FOR PSAC’S SATURDAY

The Clarion University men’s and women’s cross country teams will be at the PSAC Championships Saturday, Oct. 27, at Lock Haven.

Both teams are coming off solid performances at the Gettysburg Invitational last Saturday. The women’s team finished 7th of 26 teams, while the men’s team finished 10th of 25 teams.

"We had a good week of practice and finished it off with good performances at Gettysburg," Clarion’s 8th-year head coach Pat Mooney said. "We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, and we are going into the PSAC’s with high expectations. All of the hard work is over with, and now it is time to see if it pays off."

WOMEN LED BY BOERNER; TERWILLINGER

The Golden Eagles women’s team, which finished 10th at last year’s PSAC’s, is led by its western New York connection in sophomore Jen Boerner (Amherst, N.Y.) and freshman Melissa Terwillinger (Blasdell, N.Y.).

Boerner, who finished 16th at PSAC’s last season, has put in a solid sophomore season finishing in the top 15 in three of Clarion’s five meets and in the top five in two of them. Her top finish of the season was a first-place finish at the California Invitational (5K) in a time of 20:32. She is coming off a personal best time in the 5K (18:51.73) at Gettysburg. Her top 6K time this season was 23:04.87, which she ran at Lehigh.

Terwillinger has had a consistent rookie campaign finishing in the top 10 in three of Clarion’s five meets and in the top 25 in four of them. Her best finish was a fifth-place spot at the Slippery Rock Invitational. Her best 6K course time was 23:31.6, which she ran at Lehigh.

"Those two runners give us a great push up front," Mooney said. "Both have a shot to be all-conference (finishing in the top 15 earns all PSAC honors). They have both surpassed the expectations I had for them this year, and a lot of the reason for that has to go to how they help each other. Melissa pushes Jen, while Jen sets a pace for Melissa. They work very well together. I am real happy with the 1-2 punch they give us."

While Boerner and Terwillinger lead the way for Clarion, in order for the Golden Eagles to reach their goal at PSAC’s they will need strong performances from their three, four and five runners. Those spots have been held consistently all season by Ali Borek (So., Southampton), Wendy Kengor (Sr., Apollo) and Kathryn Szafran (So., Bradford).

Szafran has been the most consistent No. 3 runner for Clarion finishing third out of the Golden Eagle runners in three of five races, while finishing as the team’s No. 4 runner in the other two races. Her best finish of the season was 10th at Slippery Rock, while her best 6K time of the year was 24:06.48 at Lehigh.

Kengor has finished as Clarion’s No. 3 runner twice in 2001, and as the No. 4 & No. 5 runner once each. Her best finish of the season was 9th at California, while her best 6K time of the year was 26:20 at Slippery Rock. "Katie and Wendy have really picked it up for us this season," Mooney said. "They are really the reason we have been so successful."

Borek has been the Golden Eagles No. 4 runner twice and their No. 5 runner three time this year. Her best finish was 13th at Slippery Rock and her best 6K time was 25:12.61 at Lehigh.

"We will do as well as our No. 5 runner does," Mooney said. "One through four we have been solid all season, but in order for us to get to where we want to go we need a solid performance from our No. 5 runner. Ali has the capability to give us that performance."

MEN’S TEAM LED BY KING

Clarion’s men’s team, which finished 9th at last year’s PSAC’s, is led by senior Ean King (Chicora).

King, who got out to a slow start, has been the Golden Eagles top runner in the past three meets. His best finish of the season was 20th place at both California and Slippery Rock, while his best time was 27:04.69 at Lehigh. Last season, despite battling to recover from off-season knee surgery, he finished 24th at the PSAC’s. Two season’s ago he was 12th and earned All-PSAC honors.

"I think Ean is ready to run well," Mooney said. "He is practicing very well right now, but he needs to be able to run better than he has so far. I think this could be the race where he really pops out and runs well."

After King, Clarion has had a very balanced group of runners, and Mooney is hoping the balance can help the Golden Eagles have a good meet.

"We are seeded 9th, and my goal is to finish higher than that," Mooney said. "We have some pretty good depth. We can’t match some other teams up front, but hopefully that depth will help us. When you can go in with seven pretty good runners it gives you a good shot at a good finish. But in order for us to finish where we want to, our runners will have to run to their capabilities. All of them have been No. 2 runners at some point this season, but we need all of them to be No. 2 runners in this meet. They all need to step up at the same time."

The Golden Eagles depth starts with two sophomores A.J. Mayernik (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) and David Durianick (Vandergrift).

Mayernik’s best finish this season was 17th at California, while his best time was 27:34.19 at Lehigh.

Durianick best finish was 21st at California, while his best time was 27:14.79, also a Lehigh.

Four additional runners add to Clarion’s depth including seniors Matt Mastarone (Mercer/Grove City) and Jerry Smith (Greensburg/Greensburg-Salem), junior John Snyder (Punxsutawney) and freshman Zac Ogden (Kittanning).

Mastarone’s best finish was 15th at Slippery Rock, and his best time was 28:01.34 at Lehigh, while Smith best finish was 22nd at California with his best time coming at Lehigh when he ran a 27:45.47.

Snyder’s best finish of the season was 27th at California with his best time coming at Lehigh in a time of 27:47.0, and Ogden’s best finish was 47th at Slippery Rock with his best time coming at Lehigh when he ran a 28:47.43.

NOTES: Both teams will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to Slippery Rock for the East Regionals ... The favorites to win the PSAC’s on the men’s side are Edinboro, Millersville and Lock Haven, with Edinboro and Kutztown being the favorites on the women’s side ... The women’s race will be 6K and the men’s race 8K.

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by Chris Rossetti