Iona Meet of Champions

Women Capture Second, Men Ninth

The women's team performed admirably in its first large team meet of the season, placing second among the twenty two team slugfest that was held at Van Cordlandt Park in New York City on Saturday.

A week after being newly ranked in the nation's top 25 poll, the squad was to face the number 2 ranked squad from B.C., the number 7 squad from Yale, and the the number 20 squad from Villanova. The Iona Meet of Champions quickly will reveal whether a team that looks good on paper has the heart to perform in the cauldron of competition. As the race unfolded, it became clear that the Terriers is fielding a team with heart. Starting quickly, the women grouped four runners to the front, Rachel Felton, Bolpar Vinh, Sherida Bird, and Jennifer Kehoe. It appeared easy. Yet, by one and a half miles, this group had fractured and were bunched in the twenties'. Soon after the 2 mile mark, Bolpar Vinh pressed through to the top 13 runners, pulling Rachel Felton with her. Sherida Bird held steady, as Lauren Matthews was moving up near Jennifer Kehoe. At the finish Rachel Felton surged to tenth, while Bolpar Vinh held on to thirteenth, Sherida Bird placed twenty second, Jennifer Kehoe was thirty first and Lauren Matthews in thirty fourth in the field of two hundred and thirty eight closed out our team scoring at 109, good for second place in the team rankings.

BC won the meet with 31 points, showing without doubt to be at this point in the season the top team in the country. Just behind us, placed Cornell, then Yale, Dartmouth, Villanova, and Michigan in the twenty two team field. The team will again meet many of these squads in its next competition at the pre national meet to be held on October 13 in Greensville, South Carolina. In addition to those teams, there will be most of the premier teams in the country on hand, seeking to win at large points in the search of an NCAA berth.

The Men's Team

Coming off of a fine multi team win on September 15, the men's team struggled in sub par ninth place performance. Jochen Dieckfoss ran well, placing ninth in an evenly paced run and continues his return to top form following a missed indoor and outdoor season. Liam Revell had his best cross country race, covering the difficult Van Cortlandt course in 25:58. Paul Ryan ran 26:07, his best run at Van Cordlandt, despite slowing some over the final mile.

With this in mind, we will begin preparations for the New England Championships, to be held at Franklin Park, on October 12, en route to the America East title defence.