Underclassmen Shine as Cross Country Debuts at Idaho State

POCATELLO, Idaho - Aug. 30 - Southern Utah men and women swept the team titles at the Idaho State Invitational as the cross country teams opened their 2008 season in Pocatello on Saturday morning. Three Thunderbird men finished in the top five with sophomore Cameron Levins winning the individual title as the team finished 16 points ahead of the nearest opponent. The women clumped a 6th through 12th finish to complete the course eight points ahead of host Idaho State.

"This was a very good meet for us on both sides," head coach Eric Houle said of the results. "The times on the women's side are a little deceiving because they got out pretty slow and then picked it up as the race went along. However, I'm really excited to see where our team is at and as long as we can stay healthy, I think we'll be a good team."

Levins led the men with a time of 18:51.06 on the 6k course, finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and teammate Nate Jewkes with a time of 19:16.47. Jewkes was joined by fellow freshman Nigel Sharp in the top five as the Canadian finished with a time of 19:33.91.

Dave Sheeran (19:42.72, 7th) and Graham Cheever (20:05.94, 12th-scored 10th) wrapped up the scoring for the Thunderbirds.

On the women's side, true freshman Kiersten Blauer led the charge with a sixth-place finishing time of 11:11.60. She was followed in order by sophomore Diana Medina (11:19.94, 7th), junior Kate Eborn-Call (11:22.82, 8th), freshman Kirsten Sly (11:23.32, 9th) and freshman Jamie Smith (11:24.44, 10th) to round out the scoring for the women.

Freshman Jo Gullo (11:25.22) and sophomore Lynzee Baxter (11:26.66) finished just out of scoring contention with an 11th and 12th-place finish.

The results of the meet hold a lot of promise for the Thunderbirds as the women's final finisher was 14 seconds faster than the final scored runner on the same course in 2007. The men also looked to be improved with their final scored runner, posting a time 19 seconds faster than the previous year.

The men and women will return to action over the weekend of Sept. 20 when the team travels to New Rochelle, N.Y. to compete in the Iona Invitational.

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Players Mentioned

Lynzee Baxter: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Kiersten Blauer: 5' 5"; Freshman

Jo Gullo: 5' 6"; Freshman

Jamie Smith: 5' 4"; Freshman

Graham Cheever: 6' 2"; Sophomore

Cameron Levins: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Nigel Sharp: 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Lynzee Baxter
: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Kiersten Blauer
: 5' 5"; Freshman

Jo Gullo
: 5' 6"; Freshman

Jamie Smith
: 5' 4"; Freshman

Graham Cheever
: 6' 2"; Sophomore

Cameron Levins
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Nigel Sharp
: 5' 8"; Freshman