Cross Country Preparing For Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 23
September 12, 2000 | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 12, 2000
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Tech women place second at Red Raider Open
Group of freshmen leads team to second strong showing
Seven freshmen harriers scored in the top 25 of the Red Raider Open Saturday morning for Texas Tech, leading the Raiders to a second-place team finish in the four-team event.
Katie Lyman, the much-heralded recruit from Cheyenne, Wyo., paced the Red Raiders with a fourth-place finish in a time of 19:55 in the 5K run. The meet was Lyman's first collegiate race.
Lyman finished just 27 seconds behind race winner Sarah Meyer of Adams State College. Adams State won the event with a team score of 19.
Bridget Tidwell finished just behind Lyman in fifth with a mark of 20:06. Tracie Akerhielm, who finished second at last week's ACU Classic, also posted a top 10 finish Saturday, coming in ninth in a time of 20:39.
Melissa Ernst, a redshirt freshman from El Paso, Texas, finished 12th in her first collegiate race, followed by Kristen Adkins in 15th. Megan Beaty, a freshman from Idalou, Texas, came in 18th in a time of 23:31, with Emily Kepple posting a 25th-place finish with a mark of 25:36.
Men finish second at Red Raider Open
Gezachw Yossef wins first cross country race in Red and Black
Texas Tech senior transfer Gezachw Yossef won the indivudual title at the Red Raider Open Saturday at Mae Simmons Park, leading the Raiders to a second-place team showing.
The race was Yossef's first as a member of the Tech cross country squad. He raced during the spring indoor and outdoor seasons for head track and field coach Wes Kittley.
Yossef's time of 25:39 was just five seconds in front of Brandon Leslie of Adams State College. Leslie paced ASC to a first-place team showing in Saturday's meet.
Fellow senior Boniface Ndungu was the second Red Raider to cross the finish line, coming in seventh with a time of 26:42, followed just seven seconds later by freshman Nick Hulstrom.
Two other freshmen also scored for the men Saturday, with Joseph McCellon (27:21, 10th) and Scott Moore (27:39, 14th) helping post a team score of 40 for the meet.
Upcoming for the Red Raiders...
Both Red Raider teams take this week off from competition before returning to action September 23 in Seattle, Wash., when they compete in the Sundodger Invitational hosted by the University of Washington.
Both squads participated and fared well in last year's Sundodger meet, with Leigh Daniel posting a victory in the women's race and Boniface Ndungu pacing the men with an eighth-place finish.
Daniel's win came in 16:52 and was her second straight to start the season. The winning time was only eight seconds off the Lincoln Park course record, as the women posted a tie for second among 13 teams in the meet.
The men finished sixth in the 13-team event in last year's meet, with Ndungu followed by David Leigh in 11th.
Tech harriers start season with great efforts at ACU Classic
Women win, men finish second in season's first meet
The Texas Tech cross country teams began their 2000 season with a bang Friday, September 1, at the ACU Classic, with the women taking first place and the men coming in second.
Lubbock native and four-time All-American Leigh Daniel led the way for the women, winning her sixth career race with a time of 18:51.90. The other four runners for the women were all true freshmen running in their first career races.
Sulphur Springs native Tracie Akerhielm finished right behind Daniel in second place with a time of 19:20.46. Canyon product Jennifer Marable posted a fifth-place finish in 20:11.70, while Crawford native Bridget Tidwell came in seventh with a mark of 20:23.57. Idalou native Megan Beaty rounded out the scoring for the women's squad with a 29th-place finish in a time of 23:52.25. The women's race was three miles and involved eight teams and 52 runners.
The team victory for the women's squad marked their first win since last year's season-opening Red Raider Invitational at Mae Simmons Park.
On the men's side, coach Dave Smith's squad was also led by freshmen, with the top three Tech finishers running in their first races in the Red and Black.
Alvin native Joseph McCullen posted the top men's time, coming in ninth with a mark of 22:14.71. Mesquite's Scott Moore came in 10th in 22:37.51, while Dwayne Benoit finished 12th with a time of 22:56.64.
Senior George Odom came in right behind Benoit with a mark of 23:01.48. Chris Thomas and Tom Williams finished in 19th and 20th with times of 24:20.39 and 24:27.22, respectively. Chris Ramirez rounded out the Tech men's squad with a 27th-place time of 26:13.13.
Cross Country Head Coach Dr. Dave Smith
Dr. David Smith (Michigan State `93) enters his third year as head coach of the Texas Tech Cross Country program. In 1998, Smith implemented a new rigorous training program that resulted in a number of new personal bests for his runners and four of his runners qualified to compete at the Regional Championship meet.
In addition to his duties for Cross Country, Smith is the distance coach for the track and field team. Smith made an immediate impact on the track in 1999, helping coach Leigh Daniel to a pair of national titles in the 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs.
Smith entered into coaching after an outstanding collegiate career as a distance runner. At Michigan State University, Smith was a top performer for the Spartans from 1990-93. He was the Big Ten champion in the 10,000 meters and runner-up in the 1,500 meters in 1993. Smith was also a three-time all-Big Ten performer and three-time academic All-America as well as seven-time academic all-Big Ten.
After leaving East Lansing, Smith moved to Washington state, where he was the competitive manager and women's distance coach for Club Northwest. At Northwest, he led the women's cross country team to a second place finish at the USATF National Cross Country Championships. Smith also organized several major distance races in the Seattle area.
He also earned his doctorate from the University of Washington in Pharmacology during his stay in Seattle.