Men's Cross Country 10/31/2008 10:00:00 AM VMIKeydets.com

VMI Cross Country Prepares for Big South Championship

LEXINGTON, Va.- The 2008 Fall Big South Championships kick off this weekend, as the VMI cross country teams will compete at the New Balance Big South Cross Country Championships presented by UCS, being hosted by Liberty in Lynchburg, Va.

A season ago, the men's team placed fifth at the Championship, hosted by UNC Asheville in Hendersonville, N.C. This season, the squad will be gunning for at least a top-three finish in the Championship and has the talent to be able to do so, as evidenced by a second-place finish at the Big South Preview meet in September.

In that race that featured seven of the conference's 10 teams competing on the same course that will be run on Saturday, the Keydets placed each of their scoring runners in the top 20 overall. Leading the way for VMI that day was sophomore Ermin Mujezinovic (26:38), who placed fifth overall on the 8K course.

“I believe that our men's team has a solid opportunity at a top-three finish, which only twice in the past 25 years has a VMI cross country team finished higher than that,” said VMI head coach Paul Spangler. “For Donnie Cowart, this will be his last XC championship and he certainly would like to finish top 10 to make All-Conference, and he has a decent shot at achieving that goal.”

Since the Preview meet, the Keydets have gotten strong finishes from several other upperclassmen. Fifth-year senior Donnie Cowart led the team with a 34th-place showing at the Blue Ridge Open, while juniors Matt Satterwhite and Matt Sagar have taken turns as the Keydets' third finisher. Satterwhite turned in a personal-best performance at the Paul Short Invitational and Sagar ran a season-best 26:28 at the Blue Ridge Open to cross the tape 72nd overall. Each of those upperclassmen, along with junior Andrew Rademaker, will run this weekend for the Keydets.

That veteran crew will be without sophomore Felix Kitur, who has redshirted the 2008 cross country season to focus his training toward the upcoming track season. As a freshman, Kitur ran the nation's fifth-fastest time in the 800m during the outdoor season.

The Keydets will look to fill the void with a group of four talented freshmen that could play a key role in where the team ultimately finishes. Marshall Dalessandro and Stephen Lassiter rounded out VMI's top five at the Blue Ridge Open two weeks ago, and they will be pushed by Ray Delgado and Noah Hagos on Saturday.

The women's squad's fifth-place finish in last year's Championship tied the program's best-ever finish from back in 2005. A season ago, Hannah Granger just missed out on All-Conference status by placing 12th, a result she'll look to improve upon in this year's race. In September's Preview meet, Granger placed fifth overall on the 5K course with a 19:35 clocking.

“For the women, it will be a dog fight for a top-five finish,” said Spangler. “A top-five finish should be within our reach if our women run to their ability on Saturday. Hannah Granger has set a goal of a top 10 (All-Conference) finish where, despite being sick, she finished a very respectable 12th place last year.”

Granger and senior Kelsey Stafford have combined to lead the Keydets in each of their four meets this season, while freshmen Jenna Pickett, Carrie Wortham and Jennifer Sing have stepped up early in their rat year to contribute to the team's scoring. Each freshman has bettered their times in each race this season, and a continued improvement could spell big things for the women's team on Saturday.

The action gets underway on Saturday morning, with the men's race set for a 10:30 a.m. start, followed by the men's race at 11:30 a.m. For more information about the Championships, including directions, please visit Liberty's Championship webpage at http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?DB_OEM_ID=4800&PID=17816.

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