Talisa Bishop and Ben Hall set new school records for Montreat College at this weekend’s highly coveted Greater Louisville Classic. With nearly 50 colleges and universities competing in four different races, Montreat proved to be heading in the right direction. Leading the women’s team again was Talisa Bishop. Bishop completed the 5K course in 19:33.69, breaking the new school record by nearly one minute. “Talisa took the lead of the Blue Race around the one mile marker… she wanted to test her fitness level. She will agree that her racing skills are a little rusty, but this was a solid performance nonetheless,” said Coach Larios. Bishop finished 3rd out of 135 runners. The women’s team finished 11th out of 15 teams in the Blue Race, which included many NCAA teams. One of the early season highlights by the Lady Cavs included defeating NAIA Region XII's #5 ranked Berea College along the way.

“This was a great first team race by the women.  I think there is still much improvement to be made within the next six weeks.  After being preseason ranked tenth, this is a testament to their hard work,” added Larios.

Also running great for the Lady Cavs was senior Megan Riser.  Megan also set a new personal record by finishing 44^th in 21:15.57.  “As of today, Talisa should be NAIA national qualifier.  But Megan was a great surprise today though.  The next few races will allow her to sharpen her racing skills too.  If she commits herself, she too has a possibility of finishing in the Region XII’s top five individual qualifiers,” praised Larios.  Freshman Kirsten Gnagy finished third for the team in 22:22.27, good enough for 76^th place overall.  Julie Hetu (23:55) and Elyse Gildernew (24:33) also placed 99^th and 106^th respectively.

On the men’s side, freshman Ben Hall led the men’s cross country team in his first ever 8K competition, setting a new Cavalier cross country record.  Hall completed the rolling course in 28:19.64.  Also running great for the men was Justin Edwards; he also had a solid showing in his first 8K of the year by setting a new personal record, 30:11.19.  “I ran two minutes faster today than I did at the end of the season last year, on this same course,” said Edwards.  Josh Woodward also hit his personal goal by breaking the 33 minute barrier in 32:56.59. The men were not able to complete a team score as freshman Josh Oksnevad is out with a knee injury.

The cross country team will compete again this Saturday at Covenant College’s Mountain Top Classic.  The men’s race begins at 8:30am and the women’s race is scheduled for 9:15am.

Full women’s results may be viewed at:
http://www.alltraxtiming.homestead.com/glxc07_bluewomen.htm

Full men’s results may be viewed at:
http://www.alltraxtiming.homestead.com/glxc07_bluemen.htm

Written By: Jose Larios
Posted By: Jose Larios
Date Posted: 10/1/2007
Number of Views: 861