Sports > September 13, 2007

By Allison Lange | Asst. sports editor

The men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Virginia Sept. 8 to run in the Lou Onesty Invitational, hosted by the University of Virginia .

At the race, sophomore Marcus Dillion led the men’s team with a third place finish individually, with a time of 24:53.40. Junior Jeremy Fisico also ran well, placing 13th with a time of 25:35.60. Redshirt freshman Patrick Russell also placed at the meet, finishing 43rd with a time of 26:47.50.

“On the men’s side, we were just looking for our men to run in the top 10 and see if we could have two finish in there,” Head Coach Annie Bennet said.

“Marcus Dillion did a great job, placing third, and Jeremy Fisico did a great job moving up during the race.”

The women placed sixth out of eight teams at the meet with a strong showing from the freshmen class.

“On the women’s side we went in there with the goal of just teaching some of our young kids how to run a 5K,” Bennett said.

“A lot of them don’t have much experience, but these are our future runners and we foresee them helping us more in maybe the next year. They did a great job and we were really pleased with how they executed our race plan.”

Freshman Anne-Marie Duncan finished first for the Lady Deacs, placing 44th in 20:33.00. Duncan’s classmate, Christine Richards, finished 50th with a time of 20:5.00.

“Merry Placer has really stepped up on her running for the women,”Bennett said.

“She’s been on the cusp of being a scorer. We’ll race our first true race this coming weekend in Boston, but she seems ready to be a factor in the ACC.”

The men will run at N.C. State in the Wolfpack Invitational Sept. 15.

“On the men’s side, pretty much all of them have stepped up,” Bennett said.

“They all want to get back to the day when the men’s team won ACC titles, so they’re committed to seeing how far they can go and live up to the history of our program.”

The women will travel to Boston, Mass., for the Boston College Eagles Invitational Sept. 14.

“At Boston College with the women we’re going in there to win,” Bennett said.

“We’re going to see where our top seven are and what kind of times they’re running a 5K in on a grass course.”