Women place first in Hokies' season-opening race

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech women’s cross country squad won the Virginia Tech Cross Country Relay on Friday at the Tech Cross Country Course, to open the 2008 campaign for both the men's and women's squads.

Each runner was paired up with another and ran two legs of 3,000-meters and 4,000-meters for the women and men respectively. The top three tandems across the line for each squad counted for team scoring.

The Hokie women were led by a second-place overall effort from two newcomers, Sammy Dow and Lauren Pinkston. Dow and Pinkston combined for a time of 46:02. Sophomores Jessica Trapeni and Lindsey King captured fourth, and freshmen Chrissy Sane and Erin Stehle took sixth with times of 46:59 and 48:15 respectively, to secure the win with 12 overall points. Rebekah Ricksecker and Ashley Osborne of Liberty, which took second as a team with 13 points, won the race overall with a combined time of 45:11.

“The women ran aggressive, and got out like they are going to need to get out in later races where they are actually going longer distances without the breaks,” said Tech cross country coach Ben Thomas. “I was very pleased with the aggressiveness and competitiveness.”

Freshmen Will Mulherin and Logan Collins crossed the line first for the Hokie men, finishing fifth overall with a cumulative time of 50:49. The men’s squad placed third with 24 points. Liberty topped the team standings with 12 total points, followed by VCU with 22.

“On the men’s side I thought we had good efforts as well,” Thomas said. “It was a great chance for all of our freshmen to taste college running without having to go the full distance.”

Tech will take a week off, before running in the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational on Sept. 19 at the Tech Cross Country Course. That meet will give Thomas and his staff even more time to evaluate their new crop of athletes.

“I was very pleased, it was a good ‘rust-buster’,” Thomas said. “I look forward to our next home meet in two weeks where we get a chance to see what they look like at a longer distance.”