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Stanford Men's Cross Country Wins NCAA Title, Women Finish Second
Nov. 25, 2002
Terre Haute, Ind. - The Stanford men's cross country team finished its storybook season by winning its third NCAA Championship and first since 1997 on Monday at the Laverne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. The Cardinal, ranked No. 1 for nearly the entire season, dominated the 10,000 meter race by placing four runners in the top 10 and cumulating only 47 points to finish 60 points ahead of second-place Wisconsin (107). The Stanford women's team finished second in the 6000 meter race with 113 points, 28 points behind defending national champion Brigham Young (85). "This was a fantastic performance by our men's team," said Stanford director of Track And Field/Cross Country Vin Lananna. "This NCAA title brought our entire season into focus. We put all the individual stuff aside all year and ran as a team, just like we did today." Grant Robison's third-place finish in a time of 29:36.7 led the Cardinal pack, the Cardinal's highest individual men's finisher since Gary Stolz placed second in 1992. Louis Luchini (5th, 29:41.0), Donald Sage (6th, 29:44.4) and Ian Dobson (9th, 29:47.2) also had top 10 showings. Adam Tenforde (29th, 30:25.2) completed the Cardinal scoring and Ryan Hall (37th, 30:31.0) joined the five scorers to give the Cardinal a total of six All-Americans. Peter Meindl (99th, 31:07.4) also competed for Stanford. "I haven't seen a team dominate like this at this level in quite a while," said Lananna.
"We had high expectations going into the season, but this was amazing for us," added Robison. "Having such a strong team took a lot of individual pressure off me."
Alicia Craig (3rd, 19:48) and Lauren Fleshman (4th, 19:48.3) gave Stanford two of the top four runners in the women's race. Malindi Elmore finished 11th (20:01.8) to give the Cardinal three All-Americans. Sara Bei (57th, 20:54.2) and Erin Sullivan (79th, 21:06.0) completed Stanford's scoring. Anita Siraki (110th, 21:22.8) and Jeane Goff (128th, 21:30.1 also competed for the Cardinal. "Our women's team also did an outstanding job and finished right were they were expected to," said Lananna. "We ran with integrity and left it all out on the course," added Fleshman after her final collegiate cross country race. "We had a wonderful team dynamic this year. It's hard to explain how much I enjoyed this season." "I'm so glad our men's team won," continued Fleshman. "They worked so hard and deserve this victory. I never doubted them." Jorge Torres (Colorado) pulled away from a tight the men's pack to win the individual title in 29:04.7, while North Carolina's Shalane Flanagan captured the women's competition in 19:36.0.
COMPLETE TEAM RESULTS, TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS AND ALL STANFORD RUNNERS
MEN'S 10000 METERS |