KUTZTOWN, PA (October 23, 2010) – Ryan Reich placed among the top 30 runners and the Kutztown University men's cross-country team finished seventh overall during the inaugural Division II Challenge Saturday morning. (COMPLETE MEET RESULTS)
Reich crossed the finish line in 27 minutes, 23 seconds, which was good for 30th place. He was the Golden Bears' highest individual finisher. Freshman Zach Fleming finished in 38th place (27:41) for Kutztown, which scored 200 points.
Finishing ahead of Kutztown was Shippensburg (20), Stonehill (63), Southern Connecticut State (100), Millersville (105), California (130) and Massachuttes-Lowell (130). The Golden Bears ended the race in front of West Chester (204). Stonehill's Patrick Fullerton was the overall race winner with an effort of 25:35 that was two seconds ahead of Shippensburg's Matt Gillette.
“I thought some of our guys ran real well,” Kutztown University head men's cross-country coach Ray Hoffman said. “They responded to some of our more current workouts. It's going to take another week or two before we come together and get really sharp. Overall, it was a good solid effort by the men to bring into the conference championships in a couple of weeks.”
Fleming has been one of the nice surprises for the Golden Bears this season. He has consistently been near the front of the pack. Fleming's efforts have been improving as he has started to become more comfortable with college and the higher level of competition. Fleming has earned the respect of his teammates by his strong work-ethic during workouts.
“So far, the workouts have been great,” Fleming said. “It's a lot different from high school and I've been getting dinged up, but it's going pretty good. I learned that even when I am feeling bad and I don't feel like I have it; I have it and can work on the last two miles and find another gear to pass a few people. As a team, I think we're really clicking. We're feeding off of each other.”
Also finishing in the top 50 for the Golden Bears were Steve Esposito (42nd, 27:53), Andrew Hinrichs (43rd, 27:55) and Harry Latchford (47th, 28:09).
This was a special day for the KU cross-country program as it welcomed several ranked teams to its campus. In the latest United States Track and Field Cross-Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) top 25 poll, Shippensburg is sixth, UMass-Lowell is 12th and Stonehill, ranked second in the East Region, is 21st. Other regionally-ranked squads on the men's side were California (eighth in the Atlantic) and Southern Connecticut State (eighth in the East). Ship and U-Mass Lowell are the top-ranked teams in their respective regions.
“It was exciting to have all of these schools here on our campus,” Reich said. “It was a different experience because we never hosted anything like this before. We hope this continues and it gets bigger. It was a good experience to see some different teams and see what we could do against some of them.”
Kutztown returns to action on Saturday, November 6 when it competes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championships at California University of Pennsylvania.
--KU--
