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CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
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DATE: Tues., Oct. 17, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cross Country

SUNYAC meet holds promise for Blue Devils

FREDONIA, N.Y. -- The SUNYAC Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday at Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island.

The condition and character of the course has changed drastically in one short week.

“This was a fast course,” Fredonia State head coach Nolan Swanson said, “until the snowstorm.”

The storm that shut down parts of Western New York hit hardest north of the greater Buffalo area, which is where Grand Island is located.

On top of all the snow, heavy rain fell this week in the region so the course is sure to be muddy and slow.

Swanson will be taking his team up early to take a look at the Beaver Island layout – 8,000 meters for the men; 6,000 meters for the women – located along the banks of the Niagara River.

“The men,” Swanson said, “will look to hold their position of last year.” The Blue Devils were fifth of 11 teams in 2005.

The task will not be an easy one. Three of last year’s top five runners have departed. Freshman Tom Williams and Jared Newell, high school teammates from Queensbury (N.Y.) High School, and senior Kevin Buzzelli (Grand Island/Grand Island) had been the top three runners all season.

“In order to get into the top four (in the SUNYAC),” Swanson said, “we need a personal-best by (Jason) Smith and either (Matthew) Wysocki or (Chris) Walters.”

Smith is a senior from Queensbury, while Wysocki (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) and Walters (Tonawanda/Sweet Home) are sophomores.

Swanson sees Geneseo and Cortland contending for the team title, with Brockport in the mix, and his own team battling with Plattsburgh and Oswego for the middle spots.

On the women’s side, there’s no question Geneseo is favored. The Blue Knights are the defending NCAA Division III champs and have been ranked No.1 in the nation much of the fall.

Then comes Cortland, which has been ranked near the top 30 in the NCAA this year – although the Blue Devils are ahead of the Red Dragons in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference poll.

Add Brockport to the mix and it’ll be a fight for the No. 2 spot which, should it be the Blue Devils, would match their best-ever SUNYAC team finish (2004).

Individually, Swanson said, freshman Jessica Bennett (Rochester/West Irondequoit) “will try to define herself as the best freshman in the SUNYAC. … (She has) a legitimate shot at rookie of the year in the conference.”

The No. 1 runner for the Blue Devil women all fall, Bennett already has one honor on her record this season. She was named NYSCTC Runner of the Week on Oct. 7 after her winning performance at the Nazareth Short-Course Invitational.

But ultimately, the Blue Devils will be looking to finish as high as they can as a team. To that end. Swanson will look for strong races from several runners.

“We’ll need a season’s best 6K from either Ashley Tramp or Trisha Ippolito,” he said. “Bennett, (Rachel) McNamara, (Samantha) Ellwood and (Aimee) Milks have been consistent and improving this season, while Ippolito had a breakout race at Nazareth and Tramp has been trying to re-gain her form of last season, when she made the NCAA Atlantic Region team.”

Tramp (Buffalo/Kenmore East), McNamara (Lakeview/Nardin), and Milks (Binghamton/Chenango Forks) are seniors; Ellwood (Hamburg/Hamburg) is a junior, and Ippolito (Angola/Lake Shore) a sophomore.

The men’s race is scheduled to start at 11 a.m., and the women’s race at noon.

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