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Western Carolinian (Volume 69 Number 04)

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  • SLuOdSs Pnewsmagazine Catamount Cross Country off to Strong Start by Ryan Fussell | WCnewsmagazine While some students were still in bed sleeping off Friday | night, another group, the Western Carolina cross country teams got down to business on the driving range and its surrounding areas. The morning was overcast and held off rain that had already come in droves during the week, but by midday, the sun was out and the temperatures on the rise. The Lady Catamounts started the day off with impressive showings from junior Deanna Kulesz (12:00), senior Tonya Edmonds (12:35), and freshman Elizabeth Prevette (12:36). From the start of the race, the three lady cats led the race accompanied by a runner from Furman University. Kulesz got out in front and led most of the first half of the race while Edmonds and Prevette continued the chase. The womens teams only ran a two-mile race instead of the usual 5000 meters (3.1 miles) to allot for the high school varsity and junior varsity races later in the day, so the race finished quicker than usual. As the race came to an end, a pair of runners from the University of Georgia and one runner from Furman managed to edge Kulesz as they crossed the finish leading her to a fourth place finish overall, only five seconds out of first place. Edmonds and Prevette cracked the top 15 finishers by placing 14 and 15" respectively. Rounding out the top five for the lady Catamounts were freshmen Elise Wallace (28", 13:20) and Kerrie Savery (30", 13:25). The lady Cats finished 3 as a team behind the UGA, 2", and Furman, race champions. Cross country takes the top five finishers and adds their places together to create a team score were similar to golf, the lowest score wins. Post-race, Kulesz commented on the performance. Conditions were great despite this weeks rain. There were just a couple muddy places that weren't a factor. Im really proud of how everyone ran. At the beginning of the year, we were all running spread out from each other, but weve all gotten closer, similar to how we are as a team. Being a smaller team, we can all get together easier and spend time with each other. We have really bonded as a team and support each other well. Now all that is left is since we're a young team, we [upperclassmen] need to mold these puppies [freshman] so that the team continues to do well in the future. 5000 meters, and every meter was a battle for better position. From the gun, Western junior Adam Puett led the race in commanding fashion. The first turn on the course heading out towards the one-mile marker, had Puett leading by about four seconds with a large pack of runners following. Leading this pack were freshmen Fredrick Cameron and red-shirt freshman Jamar Frazier. Within twenty seconds or so, the rest of the 47 man field had passed. The next time the runners appeared on the range, Puett was the first to be seen, having now expanded his lead on the field to nearly 100 meters. Cameron was in a continual battle with the Furman runner as they traded places constantly trying to break the other for the second place position. As the field came back across the range, it had spread out a bit more, making the Adam Puett places first in mens race and leads Western Carolina to victory in home meet on September 11. Catamount freshmen stand out as they helped lead the middle pack with their freshly shaven heads (a Catamount cross country tradition). Disappearing from view for the last time, the Catamounts maintained great position going into the final stretch. Once again, Puett was the first to appear, now commanding a nearly 175 meter lead, of which he would maintain all the way through the finish to complete the day as race champion with a time of 15:39 for the 3.1 miles. Cameron (16:14) continued to fight to the finish, edging the Furman runner for 4" place overall. Two other runners managed to break the top three just before Cameron arrived. There was a tight finish for the Catamounts as five others were able to crack the top 20: James Irwin (10"), freshman Marcus Dunn (12%), Frazier (13"), freshman Brian McLean (14"), and freshman Forrest Clark (20). The Catamount men finished the team scoring as meet champions, nine points ahead of Furman. Puett reflected on the meet: I felt good from the start, and went out kind of easy, but after about a mile, started to pour it on. We've got a lot better depth in the team this year and you could see that in how everyone finished closer together than being spread out across the field. Furman was ranked higher than us in the preseason polls, and we beat them today which goes to say a lot. Hopefully everyone will keep improving and we can make a run at the conference title. When asked about his performance, Cameron added, College is a lot different from high school because you cant relax during the race, you've got to go all out the whole time. | feel like theres lots of room for improvement and am excited to see how we do. Photo by John Ashcraft
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