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
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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
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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.-