Oct. 21, 2006

Results

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Andy Tremble won a second consecutive conference individual title, and Andrew Northrup and Larry Anzalone also captured all-conference honors Saturday to lead the Lewis men to second place at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Cross Country Championship.

The Flyers scored 72 points and trailed only Southern Indiana (63). Northern Kentucky (86) was third in the 10-team field.

"We had three top-10 runners compared to Southern Indiana's two, but they had a bit stronger pack than we had," Lewis coach Rick Wemple said. "It was a very closely contested race, and I'm proud of the way we ran.

"Our strategy was to try to have our top three runners finish ahead of USI's No. 1, and our four and five finish ahead of their No. 5, and we were pretty close to doing that."

Tremble, who also collected GLVC Runner of the Year accolades, breezed to victory. He covered the 8,000-meter course in 25:21.69, just shy of 16 seconds faster than runner-up Paul Jellema of Southern Indiana, as he earned a spot on the All-GLVC team for a third successive season.

"Andy's time definitely was slower than he is capable of running," Wemple said, "but our approach was to slow down the race a bit. He did a good job of following the plan and being a team leader, and he still won impressively."

Northrup (26:02.01) and Anzalone (26:03.82) finished third and fourth, respectively, with Anzalone garnering All-GLVC recognition for a second time. Jeff Ritzema finished 31st (27:14.99) and Alberto Villa placed 33rd (27:19.50) to complete the Flyers' scoring group.

"I'm pleased with our effort, and especially pleased with the significant improvement shown by Larry and Jeff," Wemple said. "Their performances were a big key in our strong finish."

Also competing for Lewis were Emory Burdette, 37th (27:24.68); Mark Martinez, 38th (27:27.18); Ryan Sather, 51st (27:55.54); Evan Sather, 61st (28:10.71); Kevin Dockemeyer, 64th (28:18.93); Mike Eck, 75th (28:35.57); and Jared Lauer, 79th (28:47.64).

Next up for the Flyers is the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championship Nov. 4 in Kenosha, Wis. The top five teams at the regional meet advance to the NCAA Division II Championship Nov. 18.

"If we make the same improvement between now and the regional that we made during the past two weeks, I believe we can overtake Southern Indiana and earn a trip to the national meet," Wemple said.

Wemple had high praise for the sportsmanship displayed by the conference champion.

"Southern Indiana showed a lot of class by coming over to our camp and congratulating us for running a good race," Wemple said. "In light of what's happened at some other college sporting events recently, it was nice to see that kind of sportsmanship."