Monday, November 13, 2000

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM, ZIMMERMAN & BOWDEN NAMED MORAVIAN STUDENT-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

BETHLEHEM, PA --- Seven members of the Moravian College women's cross country team, sophomore Wes Zimmerman (Boyertown/Boyertown HS) of the men's cross country squad and sophomore Charlie Bowden (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial HS) from the football team have been named the Moravian College Student-Athletes of the Week for their performances last week.

Junior Heidi Wolfsberger (Moosic/Riverside HS) placed first of 237 runners on the 5,000-meter course in a time of 18:17.00 to lead the women's cross country team to a first place finish at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional at Dickinson College last Saturday.  Moravian, which has won all but one race this season, qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in Spokane, WA, on Saturday, November 18th with the win.  The regional championship was the first for the Moravian team since 1993, the Greyhounds' first of now eight consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division III National Championships, and Wolfsberger is the first Moravian individual to win the race since Tracy Wartman captured the title in 1994.

Wolfsberger, who won her second straight Middle Atlantic Conference Championship two weeks ago, wasn't Moravian's only top ten finisher with junior Emily Shertzer (Hummelstown/Lower Dauphin HS) placing fourth in 18:40.60, junior Kim Jaick (Coopersburg/Southern Lehigh HS) in sixth at 18:48.20 and junior Erin Boyle (Philadelphia/Nazareth Academy) finishing tenth in 19:01.40.  All four runners earned All-Region status for finishing in the top 35.  Freshman Ashley Kimmet (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Catholic HS) was Moravian's fifth runner, placing 36th in 20:09.40 while sophomore Jen Wagner (Riegelsville/Wilson HS) placed 51st in 20:33.00.  Senior Hannah Wood (Palm/Upper Perkiomen HS) rounded out the Moravian squad with a 63rd place finish in 20:43.00.

Zimmerman placed 30th of 245 runners to lead the men's cross country team to a seventh place team finish at the 2000 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional.  Zimmerman ran the 8,000-meter course in 27:30.70 to earn All-Region accolades.  The finish was higher than expected for the Greyhounds.

Bowden completed 16 of 32 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown in the Greyhounds 45-20 loss to rival Muhlenberg College to end the 2000 season at 6-4, a four-game improvement over the 1999 season.  Bowden connected on 167 of 299 pass attempts for 2,237 yards and 14 touchdowns.  Bowden's yardage total was the third best season in Moravian history.