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Cross Country Teams Remain Perfect At Alumni Meet
Men's, women's team claim eighth title.
September 05, 1999
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Despite the addition of Shippensburg University to the line-up, the Virginia Tech men's and women's cross country teams claimed their eighth title at the Alumni Meet Saturday morning.
This was the first time Tech has hosted another school in the season-opening Alumni Meet, and although Shippensburg is one of the top NCAA Division II programs, the visitors proved no match for the Hokie runners. The Tech women out-ran Shippensburg by a score of 24-31, while the men won 20-42. The varsity men also held off a strong performance from the Tech alumni to claim a close victory, 27-30.
Johanna Stumpf (Stafford, Va.) led the way for the women, running a personal-record 18:13.4. She was closely followed by freshman Stacey Vidt, (Allison Park, Pa.) who turned in a solid second-place performance with an 18:17.19. The Hokies placed the remainder of their scoring five in the top eight to avenge the loss they had to Shippensburg at last year's home invitational.
"We've been working really hard the last two and a half weeks," said women's coach Lori Taylor. "What I'm most impressed with was how they came out here today and just raced well."
On the men's side Chris Seaton (Richmond, Va.) picked up where he left off last season by turning in a time of 19:56.52, good for first place. Teammate Ben Dowdy (Roanoke, Va.) made a strong second-place showing with a mark of 20:06.42. Jay Johns led the alumni charge in 20:12.23, but the varsity took the next five spots to secure the victory. The men's meet was scored as a double dual meet with Tech having separate scores against Shippensburg and the Alumni.
"Seaton and Dowdy ran excellent," said men's coach Steve Taylor. "For them be in front of the alumni I was very happy with. I thought that this year's alumni team had the best shot of winning, but these guys just didn't let it happen."
Shippensburg placed two runners in the top 10 overall of the men's race led by senior Eric Reers in 20:50.05. The Shippensburg women led by Sherri Guthrie and LeeAnn Weaver managed to place four in the top 10.
The Hokies are back in action at home on Saturday September 18, when several teams will come to town for the Virginia Tech Invitational.
Women's Scores: Men's Scores
VT -- 24 VT -- 20
Ship -- 31 Ship -- 42
VT -- 27
VT Alumni -- 30
