THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Men's, women's XC place fourth at Big Tens By Zack Feldman COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Already through 5,000 meters of the 8,000-meter Big Ten Championship race, Kyle Dawson and Vince McNally were up at the very front, tied for the overall lead. But while the pair dropped back slightly toward the finish line, they still placed eighth and 13th, respectively, bringing the Penn State men's cross country team to its best conference finish since 2008. At Sunday's Big Tens in Madison. Wis.. both the men's and women's cross country teams fin ished in fourth place, with each finish far away from where the teams placed just one year ago. Penn State's men finished near the bottom at the 2009 race, beat ing only Purdue. But led this year by Dawson. a captain, and McNally. the men found them selves going into the 8,000-meter race ranked third in the Big Ten and No. 23 in the nation, with expectations from coaches and runners placing them somewhere in the top-four Sunday. Senior Ryan Foster, the men's third finisher, said while Wisconsin and Indiana were clear favorites. the team would be satis- New gymnastics coach holds Halloween scrimmage By Matt Howland , r,t , THE (..U,,_Er,lA'4 Members of the Penn State women's gymnastics team paint ed their faces with beards and moustaches on WOMEN Friday under the G. YNI N ..A. ST C: S supervision of their new coach. The Nittany Lions hosted a Halloween -Chemed intrasquad scrimmage Friday afternoon in the White Building. with parents and fans showing up to get an early look at ±e team under new coach Jeff Thompson. The Nittany Lions finished 14th in the NFAA last year. and they hope to continue their success under their new coach despite graduating five seniors. who per- CIIIL DAILY ian fled wit n a third or fourth-place ftnk. . Wisconsin took the Big Ten men's crown for the 12th consecu tive year, earning four of the top six spots. For Penn State, Dawson, McNally and Foster took the top spots, with sophomore Danny Pawola and Chris Cipro rounding out the scoring in the top-five. Dawson and McNally each left with the honor of being named second team All-Big Ten runners. And while the men improved from a ninth-place finish in 2009, the women's squad leveled out from last year. Having won the 2009 competi tion led by the graduated Bridget Franek and injured Nicole Lord, the team, took a different approach, staying together almost the entire 6,000-meter race. Each of the top seven finished within a minute of one another, a strategy the team has worked on all sea son. Sophomore runner Brooklyne Ridder led the women's squad with a ninth-place finish overall. Sophomore Natalie Bower and junior captains Caitlin Lane and Kara Millhouse also placed within the top-25. with former Penn State soccer standout Maura Ryan com- formed almost half of the compet itive routines done by the team last year. Despite the losses, Thompson has his team off to a fast start. He was happy with the team's show ing in the intrasquad, and felt the team is right where it needs to be. Junior Whitney Bencsko said the team's adjustment to the coaching changes has been great, and the team is already three weeks ahead of schedule based on previous years. I think we've really jumped into things quickly, which is a real ly good thing," Bencsko said. think it'll make sure we're pre pared by the time January comes and the beginning of the season." The team already has planned its uneven bar routines and chore ography on balance beam and Thc Pcnn Slate ring rcprescnt> \ our dudicat achievement, and Pcnn Statc pridc, rcllectin the SPORTS pleting the Lions' top-five The women entered the race ranked sixth in the conference, and for the second-consecutive year, finished the meet better than the rankings suggested, with their unranked squad topping No. 29 Indiana and No. 30 lowa. Runners from the women's team said they would aim for a win, though they did not fully expect to win. The team, nonethe less, saw plenty of opportunity to finish toward the top. Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said before the race the top-seven teams had an almost equal shot of winning, and the outcome would depend com pletely on the determination of the runners among other variables Sunday. Now, runners from both teams will shift their focus to training for the upcoming week. The teams' next meet will be the final meet Penn State will host at its Blue- White Golf Course this season, the Nov. 13 Mid-Atlantic regional meet. The regional meet could poten tially be the final showing for Penn State this season, unless individu als or the team qualifies for the Nov. 22 NCAA championships. To e-mail reporter: zefsoos@psu.edu floor exercise, with more than two months remaining until its first meet Jan. 7 at Alabama. Several gymnasts on the team felt that Thompson's preparation of the team bodes well for their chances in the meet. "We're all gonna be just so pre pared," junior Daryl Konsevick said. "We're gonna go out there and have fun because of all the hard work we're putting in now" Thompson, a two-time SEC coach of the year during an 11- year stint at Auburn, succeeds Steve Shephard, who led the team to a 256-144-2 record during his 18 years as coach at Penn State. Thompson doesn't lack for experi ence himself, having coached NCAA gymnastics for 26 years. Thompson originally planned to coach college volleyball, but found The Penn State Alumni Association cordially invites you to attend your ring presentation ceremony. hcritas2,c and tradition of Ikaln Stat e Mark this milestone and FCCCI\ ou r official Penn State ring at this special ceremom. RSVP to Greg Albert, Jostens representative at greg.albertpjostens.com or 84-861-5092. Registration begins at 2:15 p.m. Ceremony starts promptly at 3:0o p.m Four h, c ti I =MEM 1111M1 Penn State gipAlumni Association PLNNSIAt L areer Services CAREER Pt Ar4Nl'4:: Junior Vince McNally runs in a meet this earlier season himself drawn to gymnastics while working toward his Master of Science in Biomechanics at the University of Kentucky. Thompson's work in biomechan ics put him into close contact with gymnasts at Kentucky, and he found that his understanding of physics and mechanics was directly applicable to gymnastics. "I found that I could look at a skill and give them a correction that would make it easier without even knowing what the skill was called," Thompson said. "It just evolved from there. I always had a love for the sport and all I needed was the opportunity." Thompson has coached since then and has now taken the reins of the Nittany Lions, and he expects that the hard work in practice will pay off. Thompson JR FE MONDAY, Nov. 1, 2010 I Kelly Rootes-Murtly Coleg[ar. said he expects the team will be very competitive in the Big Ten. He likes what he's seen from the *lmnasts and thinks they've adapted well to the coaching change. "They're enjoying what they're doing. they work really hard. and they feel like they're gonna be ready for the first meet." Thompson said. The Nittany Lion *Tnnasts share that hope that their hard work will pay off come the end of the season, and they're looking to advance all the way to the six team national finals. think if we keep progressing from where we are now we'll be peaking at the right time, - Bencsko said. 'And then we'll just kind of carry on to nationals and then Super Six.-
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