Allegheny College Athletics - Men's cross country program to compete at Nationals for 18th time

Tradition, Commitment, Excellence

Athletes of the Year

Women's Cross Country

Mia Symoniak was selected by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as the Allegheny Female Student-Athlete of the Year. An All-NCAC performer in Cross Country and both Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field, she was chosen over five other nominees for the award.

Symoniak had a decorated year as the Allegheny women's top distance runner. During the cross country season, she placed ninth among 91 runners at the NCAC Championships to earn All-NCAC Second Team status. Symoniak finished 25th of 311 finishers at the Mideast Region Regional, claiming All-Region status.

Other in-season accolades included one stint as NCAC Runner of the Week after Symoniak took fifth out of 193 participants at Calvin's Knight Invitational. She was also honored as an Allegheny Athlete of the Week once and was the SAAC Female Student-Athlete of the Month in January.

During the indoor track campaign, Symoniak won the 5,000-meter run at the NCAC Championships while setting a new Allegheny and conference record (17:19.82). She also won the 5,000 individual race at the NCAC Relays and was first in the 3,000 at Mount Union's Jim Wuske Invitational. In her trip to Nationals, Symoniak finished 12th in the 5K.

During the outdoor season, Symoniak established her dominance in the 5,000 with another NCAC title. She also garnered NCAC Distance Runner of the Week honors after placing third in the 10,000 at Bucknell's Bison Classic. Symoniak was also an Allegheny Athlete of the Week.

Chris Marker

Men's Cross Country

Chris Marker was selected by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as the Allegheny Male Student-Athlete of the Year. An All-American performer in Cross Country, he was chosen over three other nominees for the award.

Marker, a junior, began his 2009-10 school year in fine fashion, claiming placing second at the NCAC Cross Country Championships, first at the Mideast Regional and 14th at the Division III Championships.

He was named to the All-NCAC First Team for finishing as runner-up among 109 finishers at the conference meet. At Regionals, he became Allegheny's first-ever individual region champion, placing ahead of 313 other runners, while the team won its first Mideast Region crown. At Nationals, the Gators took third place.

Marker was strong throughout the cross country season, placing first among 245 runners at Oberlin's Inter-Regional Rumble and second of 200 at Calvin's Knight Invitational. He was twice named Allegheny Athlete of the Week and once was an NCAC Runner of the Week after his performance at Calvin. The SAAC honored him twice as its Male Student-Athlete of the Month in September and October.

For the second consecutive year, Marker won the 5,000-meter run at both the NCAC Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field championship events. He set a new Gator record in the 5K when recording a time of 14:24.08 at Hillsdale's Gina Relays.

After winning the 5,000 at Washington and Lee's Carnival, he was honored as the NCAC Distance Runner of the Week. In April, the SAAC recognized him with his third Male Student-Athlete of the Month award.

Men's cross country program to compete at Nationals for 18th time

11/18/2009 1:36:12 PM

Championship site

Course map

The Allegheny College men’s cross country program reached unchartered waters on both individual and team levels during last Saturday’s Mideast Regional at Lehigh University. The Gators, who entered the meet ranked sixth in NCAA Division III, scored 59 team points and bested a field which included four other ranked schools. Meanwhile, Chris Marker became the first-ever individual regional champion in school history, finishing with an 8-kilometer time of 24:54.3.

“To go in and beat the teams that we beat is a nice accomplishment,” said Gator head coach Bill Ross. “They were all nationally ranked and so close to us.”

The schools included in that list were No. 8 Dickinson, No. 14 Carnegie Mellon, No. 15 Haverford and No. 31 Elizabethtown.

Allegheny hopes success will continue into Saturday when they compete in the NCAA Division III Championships for the 18^th time. They look to finish in the top 10 for the fourth straight season.

“Our goal is always the Top 10,” said Ross. “If we score 200 points or less, we could finish in the Top 4. In order to do that, we have to get as many of our runners to finish in the Top 35.”

The Gators had six runners finish in the Top 35 at Regionals, thus achieving All-Region status. Finishing in the top 35 at the NCAA meet ensures All-America honors.

Junior Jeramie Parker was the runner-up behind Marker at Lehigh. He is one of four runners who competed for Allegheny at last season’s National Championship meet. He finished 127^th while Tony Dipre was 25^th, Zac Ross took 85^th and Jake Zimmerman placed 135^th. Ross and Dipre also competed nationally in 2007, finishing 69^th and 151^st, respectively.

The foursome – each of whom was an All-Region honoree along with Marker and Ryan Sullivan – will compete this weekend. Matt Lacombe will complete the top seven.

Coach Ross believes experience gained from Nationals the previous year and other highly-competitive meets is impactful to a team’s potential.

“We take a different approach to Nationals than we do at Regionals,” he said. “Running meets like the Paul Short Run is a lot closer experience. There’s not too many meets like it (Nationals).”

Asked of the team to beat, Ross believes North Central (Ill.) is the outright favorite, however, he will not discount the Gators’ chances of competing for first place.

“It will be a literal fistfight for the next three spots,” said the coach. “When we finished third in 2006, we were not expected to be near that. We have to run a perfect race – which we have not done to this point – and some of the other teams have to faulter a little.”

The only fact that Ross can promise is the presence of the Allegheny faithful. Several Gator supporters and teammates were unable to make the five-hour trip to Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., however, the contingent is expected to grow for Saturday’s two-hour trip to Highland Park Golf Course, just east of Cleveland.

“It’s nice to have the NCAA meet close to home, said Ross. “We’ll have a good fan base. There will be lots of fellow Gators in attendance, so hopefully that inspires our guys to go out there and have a good performance.”

Calendar List

Jun

July 2010

Aug

Sat, Jul. 31, 2010

There are no events scheduled.

Sat, Nov 21 | TBA | Men's Cross Country

at NCAA Championships at Baldwin Wallace
Allegheny	3rd

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