Cross country teams compete at pre-nationals

Kyle Scudilla

Villanova’s men and women’s cross country teams took part in the 2004 NCAA pre-national meet on, Oct. 16. The women placed seventh at the meet, and the men finished eighth.

The meet was held at Indiana State University in Terra Haute, Ind., on the track that will host this year’s 2004 NCAA Championships in November. The top track teams in the nation were represented at this tune-up to the November championship run.

In the women’s competition, Stanford came out on top, followed by Notre Dame, North Carolina, Missouri and Brigham Young University. The Wildcats fared well with their seventh place finish out of 37 schools.

Marina Muncan had the top individual performance of any Villanova participant, as she grabbed fifth place in the 8K White Race. Villanova had other solid performances in this race from Ioana Parusheva (33), Colleen Taylor (53), Elizabeth Gesel (68), Frances Koons (77), Bridget Akard (89) and Kirsty Smith (100).

Meanwhile, on the men’s side, it was again the Stanford Cardinals who placed first overall and came away with the victory. They were trailed by Notre Dame, Michigan, BYU and Florida State. Villanova was in the mix at No. 8, thanks to some strong performances in two key races. Michael Kerrigan was the top male performer of the day as he placed sixth overall in the Open 8K Race. Kerrigan finished with a time of 26:06.5 minutes. In the same race, Richard Corcoran finished 59th

In the 8K White Race, Bobby Curtis led the charge for the Wildcats by placing eighth with a time of 24:18.5. Other notable finishes were turned in by Marc Pelerin (34), Milos Mitric (49), Craig Segal (80) and Sam Pawluk (93).

Both cross country teams have an important schedule ahead for the remainder of the season. On Friday, they compete in the Haverford Invitational at Haverford University. A week later, the Wildcats head to Boston to run in the Big East Championships.