Sept. 9, 2006

Results

WEST CHESTER, Ohio - Once again senior Kelly Sraj turned in a top performance for the Xavier University women's cross country team while sophomore Luke Beuerlein set the pace for the Xavier men's side as the Musketeers played host to the Second Annual Xavier Invitational at Voice of America Park. Xavier women claimed runner-up honors in a four team field with 43 points. The men took home the third place title with 69 points. Ohio State University clamed both team titles as OSU's men's team totaled a perfect 15 points while the women finished with 22 points.

"Kelly Sraj had an outstanding race. She is really coming into her own as a runner and it is very exciting to see a senior that has put so much time and effort and to see how the women have improved since her time here," said head coach Steve Nester. "The women's side is getting highly competitive and we're getting more and more depth. The men improved greatly over last week's performance at Dayton. The men are well on their way to be a very good team by the end of the year."

Sraj led the women's side as the senior turned in a third place finish in 18:51.08.  Junior Amanda Brown and freshman Danielle Meiners also recorded top-10 finishes with times of 19:30.64 and 19:07.30, respectively. Sophomore Becky Clark finished in 11th at 19:56.47 followed by freshman Bethany Moore who claimed 12th place in 20:06.83.

"The women's team is getting very competitive," said Sraj. "We have some of the top runners and our back is getting more and more depth."

Beuerlein led the men's side with an 11th place finish in the 5K race with a time of 15:51.74. Junior Ben Milroy came quickly after turning in a 13th place finish at 15:56.33. Junior Tony Matheus shaved 25 seconds off last week's time earning him a 14th place finish in 16:10.20. The fourth Musketeer across the finish line was sophomore, Clinton Womack in 16:34.62 followed by XU's No. 5 finisher Drew Kaiser in 16:56.87.

"I thought we did pretty well this week," said Beuerlein. "We have definitely improved from last week and I think that we will continue to be very competitive through out the year."

The Xavier men's and women's cross country teams will return to action on Friday, Sept. 15, for the National Catholic Championships hosted by the University of Notre Dame.