Welcome to St. Andrews Presbyterian College

September 9, 2006

Men's Results: Team; Individuals
Women's Results: Team; Individuals

SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Four St. Andrews Presbyterian College men’s runners finished in the top-eight to lead the Knights to a second place finish out of 22 teams at the 2006 Eye-Opener Cross Country Meet at the Milliken Research Park (hosted by Spartanburg Methodist College). The women surprised the field with a fifth place showing out of 24 teams.

The reigning Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference men’s champions, St. Andrews, took home first place out of the 10 conference foes with 99 points. The Knights will defend their title in the CVAC Championships later in the year on the same course hosted by Converse College.

The Lady Knights, picked to finish ninth in the pre-season CVAC coaches poll, made some noise with a third place finish out of the 11 league schools with 188 points.

The freshman duo of Pedro Tapia Jr. (Sanford, N.C.) and Ryan Janes (Gaithersburg, Md.) led the St. Andrews men’s squad with impressive collegiate debuts. Tapia finished third out of 172-runners to pace the Knights with a time of 26:56. Sixteen seconds behind Tapia was Janes, who finished fifth with an 8,000-meter time of 27:12.

Senior co-captain Tim Bourke (Alden, N.Y.) and 2005 CVAC freshman of the year Mitch Cooper (Virginia Beach, Va.) followed close behind in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Bourke crossed the finish line at 27:24 and Cooper one second later.

The Knights top-four runners were all awarded top-10 ribbons for their strong finishes in the deep field.

Sophomore Perry Morris (Austin, Texas) concluded St. Andrews scoring-five harriers; stopping the clock in 81st place at 30:10. Junior Adam Vick (Salisbury, N.C.) battled to 87th in 30:24. Other SAPC results included freshman Brad McKee’s (Kings Mountain, N.C.) 31:02; freshman James Lloyd’s ( Lusby, Md.) 32:05; and junior Patrick Hogan’s (Denton, N.C.) 33:31.

Sophomore transfer Alyson Trovato (Cedar Park, Texas) led the Lady Knights with a 16th place finish out of 181-entrants. Trovato made her St. Andrews debut with a 5,000-meter time of 20:23. Sophomore Leah Nicholson (Hendersonville, N.C.) followed just behind in 21st with a split of 20:42.

Junior Veronica Gobeyn (Mullins, S.C.) galloped home in 42nd with a speed of 21:25. Freshman Heather Woodard (Hampton, Va.) started her collegiate career with 55th place finish and a time of 21:53. Rounding out the Knights scoring-five was freshman Rachael Ambrosia (San Jose, Calif.) with a result of 22:03. Sophomore Tessa Franz (Warren, Ore.) grinded out her first distance race in a time of 22:16.

Other SAPC women’s runners included freshman Bonnie MacDonald (Carthage, N.C.) at 23:47; freshman Lauren Crabb (Kalamazoo, Mich.) at 29:19; and sophomore India Hill (Somerset, Va.) at 31:26.

The Knights increase their distances next week when they compete in the Wingate Invitational on Saturday, September 16. The men’s 10k begins at 9:15 a.m. while the shotgun for the women’s 6k fires off at 10:00 a.m. The Wingate Invite also serves as the Southeast Pre-Regional.