Oct. 5, 2007

Local Freshmen Pace Men's Squad at All-Ohio Championships

    Delaware, Ohio -- Freshman Jim Ramson finished 65th with a time of 27:47.0 to lead the Youngstown State men's cross country squad to a 16th-place finish at the All-Ohio Championships on Friday afternoon.
    Ramson, a Poland High graduate, and two other local freshmen finished in the top three for the men's squad. Jake Lape (Boardman) placed 77th in 27:58.7 and Joe Copploe (McDonald) was 88th with a time of 28:15.6.
    Sophomore Dawn Goodwin was the top finisher on the women's squad for the first time in her career, placing 136th with a time of 21:45.2.
    Dan Nemergut was 90th (28:17.4) and Sean Finnerty was 111th (28:41.4) to round out the men's squad. Jake Dialesandro placed 62nd in the open race with a time of 23:12.
    "The men's team did a great job of executing our race plan, which was to conquer the challenging course and conditions and the results will take care of themselves," head coach Brian Gorby said.
    Behind Goodwin, Lauren Blase finished 149th (21:58.2), Kelcie Witmer was 184th (22:53.7), Madelyn McGhee was 202nd (23:09) and Malin Heineking was 211th (23:25.3).
    Witmer and Heineking, both of whom are freshman, finished in the scoring five for the first time in their careers. The Penguins were without their top runner, Kayla Witmer. Jennifer Roman finished 57th in the open race with a time of 22:34.7.
    "These were the toughest racing conditions in my 18-year history of being at the course," Gorby said. With the heat and challenging hills, there were tons of runners literally passing out."
    The squads will rest for the next three weeks in preparation for the Horizon League Championships on Oct. 27.