web Charlotte

Oct. 29, 2009

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte 49ers Cross Country teams travel to St. Louis, Mo. this weekend for the 2009 edition of the Atlantic 10 Championship, where Adu Dentamo and Amanda Goetschius will look to defend their crowns as A-10 individual champions as well as help Charlotte to its first conference title since 2002. Last year, the women’s squad came close by finishing second in the meet, while the men claimed fourth place.

The 32nd annual men’s cross country 8k championship will begin at 10 a.m. CST. Last year, Dentamo covered the 8k Charlotte course in 24:01, the third fastest time in A-10 Championship history.

“Adu has a great chance to compliment his senior season with a top finish this weekend, but in order to do so he needs to follow his race plan to run his race and he will have a great chance at repeating as Atlantic 10 champion,” stated cross country coach Ed Schlichter.

The 21st installment of the women’s cross country 5k championship will begin at 10:45 a.m. Last year, Goetschius also finished the race with the A-10 Championship’s third fastest time by running the course in 17:37.

“This race will be tough for Amanda Goetschius to repeat as champion, but she is extremely prepared for the meet and through our workouts and race simulations she looks prime and ready to go this weekend,” Schlichter mentioned of his top women’s runner.

Joining Adu in the men’s pack will be 2007 All-A-10 performer Chase Eckard, who placed 5th at the 2009 Charlotte Invitational with a time of 25:10.5. They will be joined by junior Dakota Lowery, who placed 33rd at last year’s A-10 championship and has been a mainstay in Charlotte’s top three this year. Freshmen Will Taylor and Ross Roberson are expected to perform well as the duo have combined for six top-30 performances this year in only four meets.

“Chase (Eckard) looks to grab all-conference honors in his final season and go out on top, while Dakota (Lowery) wants to make a name for himself in cross country and claim one of the top-14 positions for all-conference honors,” said Schlichter of his two runners. “If we are able to get three runners in the top-14 this weekend our team is going to be very successful.”

Another key contributor for Charlotte could be sophomore Brian McGuire who placed 20th at the Charlotte Invitational and also took 20th at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invite. Freshmen Daniel Stiefvater and Chris Capps both have been contributors for the 49ers throughout the season with a five top-35 finishes among them.

“I expect for this Saturday to be our best meet of the season since we have focused most of the season on this race,” Schlichter said of this weekend’s meet. “We can be a top-three team this weekend or a top-seven team, but we have a good mix of upper classmen and lower classmen in the race so we should have our best race of the season.”

The field for the men’s championship is stacked with talented teams and will be a tough race for the 49ers.  The defending A-10 Champions Massachusetts defeated Duquesne by a single point in last year’s race and will try and defend their title this year. Several A-10 squads come into the race ranked regionally including; Charlotte (14th, Southeast), Dayton (6th, Great Lakes), La Salle (9th, Mid-Atlantic), Duquesne (11th, Mid-Atlantic), Temple (15th, Mid-Atlantic) and UMASS (9th, Northeast).

Teaming with Goetschius on the women’s side will be last year’s A-10 Championship fourth-place finisher, Keara Thomas, who ran a personal best 17:32.4 at this year's Charlotte Invitational. Her performance in the 5k race was the seventh fastest time in Charlotte history. Two-time A-10 Rookie of the Week, Maria Ruiz is expected to make a splash in her first conference meet. Ruiz has run in four meets this year with her best performance coming at the Charlotte Invitational with a time of 17:58.9.

Fellow freshman Sarah Willingham will run for the Niners and has been a huge contributor for Charlotte thus far this season by placing in the top-20 in three races including a fourth-place finish in the USC Upstate Eye Opener. Junior Laura McCary has only competed in two races this year, but has finished in Charlotte’s top five runners in both races. Kristin Mitchell, Janet Barry and Christina Hobbs are also expected to perform well for the 49ers at the A-10 meet.

“Our two through seven runners are interchangeable and could place anywhere in the race for us,” Schlichter stated. “I expect them all to finish close together and they are our key to success this weekend.”

The women will try and claim their first conference title since winning the Metro Conference Championship three-straight years from 1992-94. In order to do so, Charlotte will need to defeat defending champions, Richmond, who defeated the 49ers by 19 points to win last year’s crown. Seven A-10 teams come into the race ranked regionally and all have a chance to win this year’s title.

“I expect all of our runners to have their best race of the season because recently we have been looking really good in practice and everyone is gelling together and running their fastest times of the year,” said Schlichter. “It isn’t going to be a ‘walk in the park’ but we have a chance to be the top team this weekend and our women have worked hard all season for this race and deserve to be victorious on Saturday.”