Oct. 28, 2006

2006 Southern Conference Cross Country Championship Results
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Chattanooga, Tenn. - Western Carolina's women ran seventh while the Catamount men finished ninth at the 2006 Southern Conference Cross Country Championships Saturday morning along side the Tennessee River at the Moccasin Bend Course. Senior Dan Fassinger ran his best 8-K time of the season to pace Western Carolina men finishing sixth to earn All-Southern Conference accolades.

Led by individual champion, senior Lanni Marchant, Chattanooga reemerged as the top women's team in the Southern Conference, edging second-place Appalachian State by one point to claim the 2006 team title. Last year's champion, Davidson, finished third followed by Elon with the College of Charleston wrapping up the women's top five.

Defending champion Appalachian State won its ninth men's cross country championship followed by Furman in second. UNC Greensboro ran third, with Davidson and Chattanooga rounding out the top five. Three Mountaineer runners finished in the top 10 to pace ASU on Saturday, with red-shirt freshman Phil Mitchell leading the way by winning the individual championship.

Fassinger crossed the line in 25:34, 16 seconds quicker than his previous seasonal best, to place sixth out of the 79 runners. However, the Catamounts could not bunch their runners together in the scoring column as the next finisher for WCU was freshman Stephen Hammond in 48th with a time of 27:40. He was followed by classmate Jake Clawson in 50th, seven seconds back (27:47), while sophomores Jesse Ramirez and Field Miller finished 55th and 56th, respectively, with times of 28:01 and 28:08.

Rounding out WCU's men's finishers were junior Dylan Hermelee in 66th (28:33), freshman Jamie McCann in 70th (28:54) and sophomore Noah Taylor in 71st (29:10).

Much like Fassinger, junior Kerrie Savery improved her season-best to lead Western's women, posting a 23rd-place finish on Saturday. Her time of 18:44 was one second faster than her previous season-best and ranks 10th all-time on the WCU women's 5K performance chart. Savery was followed by sophomore Skye Aiello, who's time of 19:09 was her career-best at WCU and ranks 23rd all-time, in 35th.

Freshmen Annie Bailey and Lindsay Groce finished 65th and 68th, respectively, with times of 20:25 and 20:30. A third freshman, Brittany Beeker, finished 75th (20:59), with sophomore Jenna Hester (77th, 21:06), junior Brooke Saddler (82nd, 21:22), and freshman Sara Dickson (84th, 21:59) rounding out the WCU women's finishing order.

The Catamounts will now turn their attention to the NCAA Southeast Regional competition in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday, Nov. 11.

Western Carolina Women's Results
   23 Savery, Kerrie          18:44.06   23
   35 Aiello, Skye            19:09.48   35
   65 Bailey, Annie           20:25.52   58
   68 Groce, Lindsay          20:30.58   60
   75 Beeker, Brittany        20:59.06   65
   77 Hester, Jenna           21:06.86   67
   82 Saddler, Brooke         21:22.57   71
   84 Dickson, Sara           21:59.46

Southern Conference Women's 5K Results:
 1 Chattanooga          43 - Total Time: 1:29:04.86  Avg: 17:48.98
 2 Appalachian State    44 - Total Time: 1:29:24.57  Avg: 17:52.92
 3 Davidson             53 - Total Time: 1:30:04.29  Avg: 18:00.86
 4 Elon                124 - Total Time: 1:33:28.84  Avg: 18:41.77
 5 C. of Charleston    132 - Total Time: 1:34:19.03  Avg: 18:51.81
 6 Furman              138 - Total Time: 1:34:21.33  Avg: 18:52.27
 7 Western Carolina    241 - Total Time: 1:39:48.70  Avg: 19:57.74
 8 The Citadel         247 - Total Time: 1:38:18.53  Avg: 19:39.71
 9 UNC Greensboro      264 - Total Time: 1:40:54.29  Avg: 20:10.86
10 Georgia Southern    276 - Total Time: 1:41:06.48  Avg: 20:13.30
11 Wofford             282 - Total Time: 1:42:23.82  Avg: 20:28.77

2006 Women's All-Conference
Lanni Marchant, SR - Chattanooga 17:01.17
Jenna Wrieden, SR - Appalachian State 17:24.10
Brenna Burns, FR - Davidson 17:39.33
Meghan Gaffney, JR - Appalachian State 17:40.72
Kasey Smith, SR - Appalachian State 17:42.46
Sabrina LeFort, JR - Chattanooga 17:44.38
Megal Atias, FR - Davidson 17:50.22
Katie Williams, SO - Chattanooga 17:56.06
Caitlin Beeler, FR - Elon 17:59.47
Carolin Sanker, FR - Davidson 18:02.18


Western Carolina Men's Results
    6 Fassinger, Dan          25:34.26    6
   48 Hammond, Stephen        27:40.30   46
   50 Clawson, Jake           27:47.71   48
   55 Ramirez, Jesse          28:01.99   53
   56 Miller, Field           28:08.13   54
   66 Hermelee, Dylan         28:33.48   61
   70 McCann, Jamie           28:54.82   63
   71 Taylor, Noah            29:10.09

Southern Conference Men's 8K Results:
 1 Appalachian State     51 - Total Time: 2:08:46.28  Avg: 25:45.26
 2 Furman                70 - Total Time: 2:10:09.66  Avg: 26:01.94
 3 UNC  Greensboro       94 - Total Time: 2:10:57.10  Avg: 26:11.42
 4 Davidson             104 - Total Time: 2:11:32.91  Avg: 26:18.59
 5 Chattanooga          121 - Total Time: 2:12:35.98  Avg: 26:31.20
 6 The Citadel          164 - Total Time: 2:14:34.68  Avg: 26:54.94
 7 Elon                 174 - Total Time: 2:15:30.32  Avg: 27:06.07
 8 C. of Charleston     175 - Total Time: 2:15:25.29  Avg: 27:05.06
 9 Western Carolina     207 - Total Time: 2:17:12.39  Avg: 27:26.48
10 Wofford              289 - Total Time: 2:29:19.54  Avg: 29:51.91

2006 Men's All-Conference
Phil Mitchell, R-FR - Appalachian State, 25:17.19
Patrick Morgan, SO - Furman, 25:22.57
Lance Harden, SO - Davidson, 25:24.39
Tim Clark, JR Chattanooga - 25:31.49
Josh Wyatt, JR - UNC Greensboro, 25:32.53
Dan Fassinger, JR - Western Carolina, 25:34.26
Eric Albrecht, JR - Furman, 25:36.60
Nicolas Vaccaro, SR - UNC Greensboro, 25:38.19
Ryan O'Keefe, SO - Appalachian State, 25:41.36
Nathan Hernandez-Adams, SR - Appalachian State, 25:44.63