Sports > September 6, 2007

By Ryan Durham | Sports editor

The Demon Deacon men’s and women’s cross country teams showed up with force for their one home event of the season, the Wake Forest Relays. Participating schools divided their runners into pairs who then ran two legs of 3.5 kilometers (men) or 2.5 kilometers (women) for a total distances of 14 kilometers or 10 kilometers.

Wake Forest was determined to finish the event strong after Virginia Tech swept both the men’s and women’s team competition during last season’s event.The women’s team led the field and took home first place for the event.

The Lady Deacs were led by junior Nicole Schappert, who finished second overall in the race with a time of 17:15.

The team also helped round out the top 10 with seniors Caitlin Chrisman and Merry Placer and freshmen Jessica Barton and Chelsea Bolton taking the sixth through ninth place spots in the race.

The Deacons topped Virginia Tech, Davidson and Elon.

Last year the ladies did not finish the event, leaving them in last place for the Wake Forest Relays.

On the men’s side, sophomore Marcus Dillion led the Deacons with an individual time of 22:06, which led the field.

Dillion and his partner redshirt senior Chris Catton also combined for a total time of 45:35, which topped the field.

Despite the strong efforts of Dillion and Catton, the Deacs were not able to match up in team scoring to Virginia Tech, who only amassed 11 points on the day.

The men’s performance did put them ahead of Davidson and ACC opponent Duke. Three other Deacs finished in the top 10 individually.

Freshman Keaton Morgan, redshirt freshman Patrick Russell and redshirt senior Matt Owen finished in sixth, ninth and tenth place respectively.

The team of Owen and Russell also combined to finish fifth in the team rankings with a time of 46:39.

The Demon Deacons will return to action Sept. 8 when they travel to the Lou Onesty Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.