Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams Place 3rd at Richmond Invitational

9/29/2003

RICHMOND, Va. - The Marshall University Cross Country teams turned in a solid performance at the Richmond Invitational, Friday. Both men’s and women’s teams finished third overall out of eight teams.

Leading the Herd men’s squad was junior Craig Swisher (Bidwell, Ohio) who finished third overall with a time of 27:09.70. Swisher has placed in the top ten in each race he has participated in so far this 2003 campaign.

"Craig had an outstanding week for us", head coach Jeff Small said. " Mike Jones and Eric Anderson also ran well for us this meet... The return of Brad Colen from injury, even though he is not at 100%, really helped us secure the third place finish."

Helping the women to a third overall finish was senior Shelby Pride (Behel, Ohio). Like Swisher, Pride has also finished in the top ten every event this season. Pride turned in a seventh place finish with a time of 20:08.70.

"Our top four girls; Shelby, Sara, Varanika, and Stephanie ran very well this meet," Small said. "I am some what pleased with our performance this weekend."

Marshall returns to action next Friday at the Lakefront Invitational, Chicago, Ill.

Other finishers for Marshall:

Men
14 Mike Jones 29:16.20
16 Eric Anderson 29:40.80
29 Brad Kohler 31:08.70
35 Ryan Slone 32:20.60
49 Andrew Watson 35:41.30

Women
12 Stephanie Eastman 20:54.60
17 Sarah Corley 21:05.80
19 Varinka Barbini 21:09.10
52 Stephanie Achilles 24:12.80
58 Ryann Metheny 25:11.60


Men’s Team Finishes:

1.Richmond
2.Radford
3.Marshall
4.Roanoke College
5.Concord College
6.Virginia Commonwealth
7.Longwood

Women’s Team Finishes:

1.Richmond
2.Virginia Commonwealth
3.Marshall
4.Hampton
5.Radford
6.Longwood
7.Roanoke College
8.Concord College


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