Nov. 5, 2007

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Lake Superior State men's and women's cross country teams both ran their fastest times of the year at the 2007 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships held Saturday at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

LSSU sophomores Katie Scott and Ashley Quick finished 28th and 45th, respectively, and met the criteria for academic all-America status. The racers in the top 30 percent of the standings who have at least a 3.25 grade point average qualify. Scott has a 3.728 GPA in exercise science, while Quick posts a 3.525 GPA in secondary education/math. All-America certificates will be awarded in December.

The LSSU women's team finished 13th among 22 teams, while the men's team was 20th. Grand Valley State dominated the top 20 spots in both races to sweep the team championships.

"There were eight nationally-ranked men's teams in the region, and only four advanced to nationals," LSSU coach Steve Eles said in regard to the quality of competition. "So four nationally-ranked teams didn't move on."

Tom Thornton was 88th with a 10K time of 34:23.97 to lead the Laker men. LSSU's No. 2 runner was Chris Olds in 92nd place with a time of 34:34.24. Ben Tarbutton was 99th (34:44.32), followed by Kevin Macomber in 111th (35:06.38), Luke Allen in 137th (36:17.78), Jason Ferguson in 147th (37:53.82) and Jake Hoover in 153rd (39:25.14).

Tom Thornton

"The men ran a 10K instead of their usual 8K," Eles said. "Five of our seven guys ran their fastest 5K ever en route to the 10K."

Scott was 28th with a 6K time of 22:53.90. Quick finished 45th in 23:19.91. Rounding out LSSU's top seven women finishers were Stephanie Riedel in 67th (23:43.59), Stacy Leyder in 105th (24:22.39), Angela Perry in 119th (25:00.08, Marissa Ingle in 130th (25:37.60) and Sarah Christilaw in 133rd (25:42.28).

Ashley Quick

"Katie ran her second-fastest time ever and her fastest of the season," Eles said. "Every other member of our women's team ran her fastest time ever. Ashley PR'ed (personal record) by a minute."