page 12 - The Behrend College Beacon - Thursday, October 8, 1998 Behrend runners prepare for Regionals By Jason Snyder sports editor The Behrend men’s and women’s cross country teams are preparing for the conclusion of the 1998 season with hard training and impressive showings at recent meets. Both the men and women competed in the very competitive Alfred Invitational on Saturday, September 26, and followed that up with convincing wins at Laßoche on Saturday, October 3. Despite a third place finish at the Alfred Invitational, the men can look back with positive feelings. The men came off of a hard week of training and were competing in their fourth straight race. Coach Rich Hoffman commented on the effort saying, “Alfred is a very competitive meet, and it was up a notch from where it was in the past." He added, "when you are training hard, and racing every week, there is a good chance you may come up flat from time to time." But, despite being Hat, the S coreboard Date Women’s Soccer Ictober 3 ictober 6 4en’s Soccer >ctober 3 •ctober 4 Cross Country Dctober 3 Tennis )ctober 5 Volleyball October 1 October 3 October 6 AMCC Athlete of the Week Women's Soccer Michelle MakitesUi Behrend goalkeeper Michelle Malatesta was named the AMCC Athlete of the Week foi the week of September 29 - October 5 for her performance in goal. Malatesta recorded two shutouts during the week for Behrend, helping improve the women’s record to 9-1-2. Pitt-Bradford and Alfred were both blanked as the Lions rolled to a 2-0 week. men were able to keep the results close with Allegheny, a team they will need to beat on their road to Nationals. Overall, Hoffman was pleased with the fact that his runners, despite strug gling throughout the race, were able to turn it on in the last mile. Hoffman re flected on the effort saying, “we had some guys really come on and make a difference, and that was a real good sign. They could have packed it in, but they pulled it together and made a race of it.” Freshman Brian Gaines continued a strong start in his first year at the col lege level with a ninth place finish in the very competitive meet. Gaines has yet to finish outside the top ten. The women’s team, led by Keri Lowman, finished ninth in the race. Lowman crossed the tape with a time of 24:27. Hoffman, pleased with the out look of the team said, “the women are a young, inexperienced group, but I have been pleased with their commitment and general enthusiasm to improve.” This past weekend, the Lions used their less competitive meet at Laßoche to prepare themselves for the upcoming onent Alfred @ Hiram Goals: Jill Yamma, Amy Larocca, Lauren Arrigo, Chrissy Greco, Jennifer Bargaiban AMCC Record 3-0 Overall Record 9-1-2 @ RIT Plattsburgh @ MCC @ Laßoche Invitational Men Ist Place 1. Dennis Halaszynski (30:06), 2. Tyler Travis (30:13) 3. Adam Dzuricky (30:13) 4. John Joseph (30:40) 5. Dave Rhoades (30:44) Women Ist Place 1. Keri Lowman (24:35) 3. Tina Rubay (25:20) 4. Kelly Friess (27:26) 5. Amy Bednar (27:31) 6. Robin Suhrie (30:44) @Edinboro @ Pitt-Bradford Frostburg Penn State Altoona weeks. The team rested eight runners and took advantage of the opportunity to train the rest of the team hard. They were still able to finish first in the meet as Dennis Halaszynski took home his first individual win of the season. Behrend’s top five runners in the meet all finished within a minute of Halaszynski. Hoffman said, “we ran in groups and held back a bit, but we had pre-determined surges planned. I think it was a beneficial effort for us. We got a good training session in, but we didn’t get injured or overly fa tigued.” The women won their first meet of the season at Laßoche, placing all of their runners in sixth or better. Keri Lowman won the race and was fol lowed by Tina Rubay (3), Kelly Friess (4), Amy Bednar (5), and Robin Suhrie (6). Coach Hoffman is impressed with the improvement of the women’s team. “My main goal this fall was to estab lish a viable team and make progress each week in some area, and we have done that. They have laid the founda tion for the future.” Result W 1-0 W 6-0 L 2-0 L 5-1 Goal: Josh Castillo AMCC Record 3-0 Overall Record 6-6 L 6-3 AMCC Record 4-1 Overall Record 6-9 W 3-0 L 3-0 W 3-1 15-13, 15-7, 15-12 8-15,8-15, 14-16 15-9, 15-12,11-15,15-6 AMCC Record 3-3 Overall Record 6-12 Sports The next test for both teams comes this Saturday, October 10, at the Dickinson Invitational. The meet will feature a field of 50 teams including some of the best in the east. This race is important for the men’s team because Dickinson is the host for Nationals. Hoffman com mented on the importance of the meet saying, “this will be a real tell ing point on where we are and what we need in the month left before Regionals.” He added, “we have a legitimate opportunity to qualify for the national meet, and the Dickinson meet will give us a good idea of what lies ahead for us to accomplish that goal.” The men and women hope to win the AMCC Championship hosted by Behrend. The teams were strongly encouraged by the fan support in Behrend’s Invitational this past Sep tember and hope to see more at the AMCC Championships on October 24 at 11:00 a.m. Date Men’s Soccer October 10 October 14 Women’s Soccer October 8 October 13 Volleyball October 10 Cross-Country October 10 Tennis October 10 Volleyball wins two out of three matches Jamie Salapek staff writer The Behrend volleyball team has been using their impressive skills lately to get an edge on their opponents. On October 1, the ladies challenged Pitt-Bradford and pre vailed in three games. Behrend used their quick offense which resulted in three safisfying victories of 15-13, 15-7 and the third game of 15-12. Tanya Deats led the team with eight kills as Mary Good added four of her own. Good also finished with twelve digs and freshmen Tiffany Beers con tributed seven kills, eleven digs, and four aces. The Lady Lions moved to 2-2 in the Allegheny Mountain Col legiate Conference with the win. On October 3, Behrend faced off with Frostburg State. These two teams put on a very competitive match, yet Frostburg prevailed in three action packed games. In game one, Behrend started off with good offense and defense but began to struggle and fell to their opponent 8- 15. In the second game, the Lions picked up the pace tremendously and started to mount a potential come back. The ladies, however, couldn’t finish and fell to their tough rival by the score of 8-15. The third game was a “nail biter.” Both teams went back and forth as every move was Opponent @ Pitt-Greensburg 1:00 P.M Washington and Jefferson 4:00 PM John Carroll @Camegie-Mellon @ Fredonia Tournament TBA @ Dickinson Invitational TBA @ Pitt-Greensburg Anyone interested in participating in Track and Field should see Rich Hoffman in his office at 6 crucial to the game. Behrend, how ever, couldn’t stop Frostburg State as they took the third game, 14-16 and the overall match, 3-0. Behrend then hosted Penn State-Altoona on October 6. The Li ons came out with an impressive win in three games. They used their solid defense to hold off Altoona’s hitting. The Lions used their power offense to score the points that counted. The four games of 15-9, 15-12,11-15 and 15-6 kept the fans on the edge of their seats. Senior Angela Traister led the Lions with her defensive skills. “We played really well and have been improving a great deal every game. Altoona beat us the first time we played them, but we came right back, " stated Traister. Tiffany Beers notably took charge of the fourth game. She came out swinging and ended with eighteen kills. Sarah Fry also stepped up and did a nice job setting. This was her first full match of the season and she added 46 assists for the Lions. Coach Cindy Jacobelli noted, “we are really coming together quite well. I’m really looking foward to the second half of the season." Behrend will participate in the Fredonia tournament this Saturday, October 10 and will travel to Frostburg on the 16th to avenge their recent loss. Head Volleyball Coach Cindy Jacobelli has led the Women’s volleyball team to a con ference record of 3-3 photo courtesy of Penn State athletics Become a sports writer for The Beacon Call 898-6488 Time 4:00P.M. 7:30 P.M