Morrison sparkles at NCAA meet

While she missed her goal of becoming an NCAA All American, Fredonia's Laura Morrison (Wethersfield, Conn.) produced an effort Saturday which made her coach proud.

"It was a very strong showing for Laura," said Blue Devil head coach Tom Wilson after Morrison covered the 6,000-meter Lake Breeze Golf Course layout in 22:04.8. It was her second-fastest 6K time this season.

Morrison bolted out with the lead runners was 14th after 1,000 meters and 23rd after 2,000 meters. She fell back to 54th just short of the 5K mark and finished the race in 61st out of a field of 280 women from across the country.

An academic senior who was competing in cross country collegiately for the first time this fall, Morrison is only the fifth Fredonia woman to race at nationals -- and the first since 2002.

Also making their first trip to nationals were seniors Kyle Collins (Suffern) and Collin Mulcahy (Batavia). Both competed in the men's 8,000-meter championship race Saturday afternoon with Collins finishing 110th and Mulcahy 147th in a field of 280.

"Kyle fell after the first 100 meters," Wilson relayed from Wisconsin, "(and) Collin was able to avoid the fall."

Through the first split, Mulcahy was 65th in just over three minutes while Collins was 208th, yet only eight seconds behind his teammate. That's how closely packed the field was on the generally flat course.

Collins moved up 55 spots over the next 1,000 meters and improved his position by another 46 spots at the 3,950-meter split, where he pretty much stayed. His final time for 8K was 25:33.9; Mulcahy's was 25:46.0.

"Both ran very hard and had strong finishes," Wilson said. "Overall, it was a great season, the best I've had yet."