Cross Country Set to Compete for League Crown

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Oct. 29, 2009

Men's & Women's Cross Country Teams Set to Compete for League Crown

Youngstown -- The Youngstown State men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Milford, Mich., this Saturday for the Horizon League Championships held at Kensington Metropark and hosted by Detroit. The men’s 8K is slated to start at 11 a.m., while the women’s 5K will get under way noon.

Both squads will be coming off a two week rest, as the teams have not competed since Oct. 17 at the Bowling Green Falcon Invitational.

Senior Lauren Blase leads the women's cross country team to the Horizon League Championships. Blase placed 15th last year.

Last season at the league meet held in Green Bay, Wis., the men finished in sixth while the women claimed seventh.

The men’s best all-time finish since YSU joined the league was third in 2001, 2002, 2003 and again in 2007. Butler has been the dominant team on the men’s side winning every championship since 1998, including taking the top five individual spots last season. The women’s best finish was in 2003 and has been in the top five four times, most recently 2004. Last year, Loyola unseated the Bulldogs women from the top spot after they had claimed the previous six league crowns.

The men's cross country team has seen three different top-finishers in four events this season. Freshman Kiplangat Tisia (Koiybey, Kenya), has been the team's top finisher twice, including the last meet at the Bowling Green Falcon Invite. Tisia will be making his first appearance at the league championships.

Jake Lape (Boardman), a junior, was the top male finisher for the Penguins at the All-Ohio Championships. Lape is the top returning YSU men’s runner from last year’s championships having finished 17th.

Fellow junior Jim Ramson (Poland), led the men’s squad at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational. Ramson had the third-best finish for the Guins last year at 26th.

Juniors Jake Dialesandro (Ravenna), Joe Copploe (McDonald), Rick Lape (Boardman), and Jim Ramson (Poland) will also be relied upon because of their experience. Newcomers to meet include freshman Lance Ronghi (McDonald) and Aron Korir (Egerton, Kenya). Dialesandro placed 42nd, Lape was 48th and Copploe was 49th at the league meet last fall.

The women's team has been led by senior Lauren Blase (Boardman), who was the Penguins top finisher for the women in every meet. Blase was 15th as the top finisher for YSU last season with a time of 19:10. Most recently, she placed eighth at the Bowling Green Invitational in a 6k event.

Freshman Samantha Hamilton (Jackson-Milton) has had an impressive season, finishing as the second-best Penguin in three out of four events.

Junior Kayla Witmer (South Range) has finished as one of the top-three Penguin finisher in every event this season. Witmer placed 22nd at last year’s league meet.

Freshman Katherine Digby (Vancouver, B.C.) finished as YSU’s third-best finisher at the Bowling Green Falcon Invite.

Senior Dawn Goodwin (West Salem), juniors Lisa Lee (Norwalk) and Kelcie Witmer (South Range), and sophomore Jocelyn Steiner (Ravenna) all have competed league meet. Last fall, Steiner placed 36th in her first league meet, Lee was 41st and Goodwin finished 54th.

The lone newcomer is freshman Nellie Yegon (Eldoret, Kenya).