ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Friday, September 23, 2005

Blue Jays Compete at Unscored Haverford Invitational Friday

HAVERFORD, Pa. --- Elizabethtown competed at an unscored meet on a three mile course at Haverford College Friday. The meet included two NCAA Division I teams from Temple University and Villanova University, as Well as NCAA Division III teams from Widener University, Haverford, Elizabethtown, The College of New Jersey, and Swarthmore College.

Jason Theobald (Honesdale, PA/Honesdale) was Etown’s top runner for the day in 24th place out of 120 finishers on the four mile course in 20:56. Also placing in the top 30 was David Cohen (Allentown, PA/William Allen) in 30th place in 21:03. Junior Patrick Donovan (South Pasadena, CA/St. Francis) finished 34th in 21:10, and senior Greg Wetzel (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks East) came in 36th in 21:13.

The spread between Etown's top five runners over the four mile course was 35 seconds, an improvement from the spread of 43 seconds at last year's Haverford Invitational. However, according to head coach Chris Straub, that was one of the few positive statistics to come out of the meet.

"The men looked good at the mile mark, but faded quickly thereafter," he said. "Our times were significantly slower than last year," he continued, "which was really disappointing.  I think we're a lot better team than we indicated today, but we will have to see if we start racing at the level that matches our current level of fitness."

However, Straub sounded a positive note. "This is a tough group of guys, though, and they will be resilient and fight back.  It's not the first time we have struggled in a big way during the month of September and the week after our annual Willpower Workout," he said, referring to the Blue Jays' famously grueling annual test of endurance. "It's a long season with the regional and national championships still six to eight weeks out," he continued.

Etown will return to action at the Dickinson College Long Course-Short Course Invitational Saturday, October 1.

At Haverford, Pa.
Haverford Invitational – Unscored Meet
Etown finishers (4 mile race – 102 total finishers):
24. Jason Theobald, 20:56; 30. David Cohen 21:03; 34. Patrick Donovan 21:10; 36. Greg Wetzel 21:13; 46. Ryan Mulcahy 21:31; 50. Brandon Bear 21:39; 64. Ryan St. Clair 22:08; 67. Dave Bresnahan 22:15; 70. Tyson Evensen 22:20; 83. Jon Slusser 22:46