TERRE HAUTE, IN - On a cold and blustery day in the heartland of America, the William and Mary men's cross country team finished 22nd, only four points out of the top 20 at the NCAA Championships. Wisconsin placed six athletes in the top 15 to claim victory in a landslide, 37-105 over second-place Arkansas. The Badgers' Simon Bairu defended his NCAA crown from a year ago, running 29:15.9.
The Tribe was led by sophomore
Ian Fitzgerald (Glenshaw, PA) in 72nd, who has been the top finisher since winning the Colonial Athletic Association championship at the end of October. Next across the line was redshirt-junior
Sean Anastasia-Murphy (Gloucester, MA), outkicking several runners to improve his position about ten places over the final few hundred meters. Also finishing in the pack slightly behind Anastasia-Murphy was senior
Jeff Hedley (Virginia Beach, VA) (31:22.5) and junior
Adam Tenerowicz (Blackstone, MA) (31:25.3). Senior
Matt Keally (Virginia Beach, VA) completed the scoring in 168th, eight seconds behind Tenerowicz. Junior
Keith Bechtol (Alexandria, VA) was sixth for the Tribe, battling the cold to finish in 32:10.8, and 2004 All-American
Christo Landry (Falls Church, VA), in his first race back from injury since the Pre-National Invitational on October 15th, finished with a disappointing time of 34:24.5.
"Today was a tough day, and not having Christo [Landry] where we were expecting him to be hurt a lot. But, we'll take these lessons and try again next season," head coach
Alex Gibby said after the race. "If we had a top 30 runner like we did in years past, we're looking at finishing in the 10-12 range, instead of 20-22."
NCAA National Championship
Place Team Score
1. #1 Wisconsin 37
2. #2 Arkansas 105
3. #5 Notre Dame 178
4. #13 Iona 205
5. #3 Colorado 222
. . .
22. #15 WILLIAM AND MARY 518
Top Five Finishers:
Place Individual (Team) Time
1. Simon Bairu (WIS) 29:15.9
2. Richard Kiplagat (IONA) 29:21.9
3. Chris Solinsky (WIS) 29:27.8
4. Josh McDougal (LIB) 29:32.6
5. Westly Keating (UTPA) 29:38.1
W&M Individuals
72.
Ian Fitzgerald 30:44.5
135.
Sean Anastasia-Murphy 31:19.6
141.
Jeff Hedley 31:22.5
149.
Adam Tenerowicz 31:25.3
168.
Matt Keally 31:33.6
219.
Keith Bechtol 32:10.8
252.
Christo Landry 34:24.5
