Oct. 28, 2000
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) -
Senior Art Lathers (Dennisville, N.J./Middle Township) finished in 13th place to pace the Lafayette men on Saturday at the Patriot League Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University.
Lathers, who was coming off a 16th place finish at the Leopard Invitational two weeks ago, toured the Lehigh course in 24:49.
"Art Lathers ran great race, just missing all-league honors while also managing his best time of the season," said Head Coach Julio Piazza.
Junior Jason Lewis (North Powder, Ore./Powder Alley), who struggled with injury earlier in the season, continued his steady improvement, finishing 26th in 26:12.
Seniors Jon Smolenski (Manor, Pa./Hempfield) and Nicholas Groch (Havertown, Pa./St. Joseph Prep) placed 37th and 38th, respectively. Smolenski, who was the Leopards' top runner for the majority of the season, ran a 26:36, two seconds ahead of Groch's 26:38.
Freshman Reginald Clay (Columbus, Ga./Columbus) rounded out Lafayette's top five finishers, with a 50th place finish in the 66-runner field.
Army's Will Wyche took the overall individual title with a time of 24:50. He was the first of four Army runners in the top five. Army ran away with the team competition with 20 points, 35 points ahead of second place finisher Bucknell (55).
Colgate (83) finished third, Lehigh (116) fourth, Lafayette (134) fifth and Holy Cross (139) sixth.
"Both teams performed as well as they could have under circumstances with the injuries that have hit both teams. One of the things I am proud of is that no athlete threw in towel, knowing that the team wasn't at full strength."
"Four out of the top seven ran their best times of the year. We've run over at Lehigh a couple times so it was a meaningful stat."
"One of the frustrating things from a coach's point of view is that in other sports you can devise a stategy that can keep you in the game,"Piazza said. "In cross country, you just have to go out and run."
The Leopards return to action on Nov. 11 at the NCAA District Qualifiers.
