Top 10 Highlights - Number 6
WINCHESTER, Va. - For the next two weeks, the Shenandoah University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will be looking back at its top 10 highlights of the 2008-09 school year.
For the complete list and overview of the project, please click here.
Today, we look at the No. 6 highlight: Cross Country posting solid seasons on and off the course
In the fall of 2008, Andy Marrocco was heading into his third season as the Hornets head men's and women's cross country coach, and his first two years were marked by steady improvement in the two programs.
The two teams had posted solid finishes in the USA South Conference, and had increasing number of student-athletes earn All-USA South honors.
However, that improvement paled in comparison to what the team accomplished in 2008-09.
The men and women started the year with solid finishes at solid fourth and ninth place showings, respectively, at the Delaware Valley Invitational in late August before showing their true colors a week later in a home meet.
Before a nice crowd and solid competition at Kernstown Battlefield, the men won their event and the women finished second. Even though the women didn't win, they had the first and third place finishers with freshman Amy Smith taking the race by a full 30-second margin.
Smith's classmate, Kyle Gutierrez, nearly matched her by finishing second in the men's race. Marrocco's men had the second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth place finishers to dominate the 8K event.
Proving that the home meet was no fluke, the men and women posted top 10 finishes in all but one meet to finish the regular season and swept the Hood Invitational on October 18 in their final tune-up before the USA South Championships.
Smith led this charge by posting top 10s every time out and winning the Cabrini Invitational on October 11.
The Hornets traveled to the annual conference championships at Hagen Stone Park in Greensboro at the end of October and posted a program-best-ever second place in both the women's 6K and the men's 8K races. Three men and two women were named first team All-USA South prior to the meet with Smith taking home Rookie of the Year honors.
One week later, Smith and her female teammates capped their outstanding seasons by finishing 12th at the NCAA South/Southeast Regionals in Seguin, Texas. Smith also earned All-Regional honors with her finish.
However, the most impressive achievement the team might have recorded came in the classroom. Senior Sarah Hickie earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors, Smith was named a Scholar Athlete by the USTFCA and four of the cross country runners were a part of the women's track & field team that had the highest GPA in the nation.
