Tuesday, November 14, 2000

GREYHOUNDS TO RUN AT NATIONALS FOR 8^TH STRAIGHT YEAR

BETHLEHEM, PA --- With their first place finish at last weekend's NCAA Division III Mideast Regional hosted by Dickinson College, the Moravian College women's cross country team has qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships for the eighth straight season.

The Greyhounds, which have also won eight consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference Championships, are one of three teams that will represent the Mideast Region at the national meet to be hosted by the Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington this Saturday, November 18th.  In its last seven appearances in the national race, Moravian, which is coached by Mark Will-Weber, has finished in the top ten four times.  The best finish for the Greyhounds was in 1993, the last time Moravian won the regional meet, and 1995 when the squad was third overall.  Moravian has also finished fourth in 1994, the year the Bethlehem school hosted the national meet, eighth in 1997 in Boston, MA, 13^th in 1996, 14^th in 1998 and 20^th last fall in Wisconsin.

Leading this year's team is a pair of juniors Heidi Wolfsberger (Moosic/ Riverside HS) and Emily Shertzer (Hummelstown/Lower Dauphin HS).  Wolfsberger won both the Mideast Regional race and the MAC Championship with a time of 18:17, the first time since 1994 a Moravian runner had won both races.  She has won her last four races and been in the top five of all seven meets she competed in this season.  Shertzer also earned All-Region and All-MAC accolades for the second straight season after placing fourth in the regional and second in the MAC meet.  Shertzer's best time of the year was 18:40.60 at the regional.

Moravian had two other runners earn All-MAC and All-Mideast Region honors.  Junior Kim Jaick (Coopersburg/Southern Lehigh HS) was sixth at the Mideast Regional in a season best 18:48.20 and placed third at the MAC Championships.  Junior Erin Boyle (Philadelphia/Nazareth Academy) also ran her best time of the year last weekend in Mideast Regional at 19:01.40, good enough for tenth place.  Boyle finished fifth in the MAC meet.

Rounding out the top seven for the Greyhounds this season have been senior Hannah Wood (Palm/ Upper Perkiomen HS), sophomore Jen Wagner (Riegelsville/Wilson HS) and freshman Ashley Kimmet (Bethlehem/ Bethlehem Catholic HS).  Wood was an All-MAC runner, placing seventh in the MAC at 20:03.18 and she was 63rd in the regional race.  Wagner, whose best time of the season is 20:13.18, was 12th in the MAC meet and 51st in the Mideast Regional.  Kimmet just missed All-Region honors in the Mideast Regional, placing 36th in 20:09.40 and she was 14th in the MAC race.