Cross-Country gearing up for tough competition

The Hopkins Men's and Women's Cross Country teams finished Saturday's meet at the 28th annual Lehigh University Paul Short Run with modest team placings and a few standout individual performances.

The men's team finished 10th out of 17 teams, with 289 points, while the women placed eighth out of 19 schools with a total of 257 points.

Considering the demanding last three weeks of the team's schedule, Head Coach Bobby Van Allen was impressed. "Overall I was pleased with the performance of the team,"; Van Allen remarked.

Senior John Apperson led the men's team, finishing 119th place overall with a time of 27:42, which was just four seconds off his best time of the season. Junior Jamie Parks followed in 130th place with his best time of the season and his career, 27:49. Junior David Courson, who finished in 136th place, also finished at his best time this season at 27:53. Rounding out the top five finishers for the men were freshman Gavin Barnhard at 29:32 and sophomore Dan MacNeil at 30:01.

"Dan has shown remarkable improvement this year," remarked Van Allen. "He should be ready to break [the 30 minute mark] this weekend."

Van Allen pointed out that the men were shorthanded for the Lehigh meet, with freshmen Eric Scrivner and Steve Chu not running for different reasons, and freshman Dan Raposa battling sickness all week.

"Hopefully everyone will be rested up and healthy for our Conference Championships on Oct. 27," said Van Allen.

On the women's team, Junior Hilary Knipe was the top finisher for the third consecutive race. Knipe finished 34th overall with a time of 23:48. Freshman Tiffany Miceli took 81st place with a time of 24:39. Senior Mary Stahley finished at 25:11, while Senior Staphanie Black finished at 25:23.

The meet marked the return of Black to the lineup. "If she can stay healthy, she will have a big impact on the team," Van Allen said. "The women proved that they are going to be a tough team at Conference Championships. We are closing the gap on some of the other Conference teams while still holding out some members of the team that rested [at Lehigh]."

"I feel that things are all coming together," Van Allen stated. "After one more tough meet at the University of Maryland this Saturday, our team should be ready to make the jump into the top three or four teams in the Conference."

The future, according to Van Allen, "doesn't get any easier." With a meet next Saturday at the UM against some tough rivals, the team hopes to continue to improve.