Bair leads Pitt runners, but teams fall short

The Pitt cross country team has had the necessary tools all season long to make a serious… The Pitt cross country team has had the necessary tools all season long to make a serious push for nationals, it just needed to come together.

That team achieved that unity last weekend, but too little too late as the Panthers came up just short in their final meet of the season at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships.

“[The team] really went after it this weekend, and although we fell a bit short, I’m really proud of their effort,” head coach Alonzo Webb said of his team’s performance.

Held at Lock Haven University, the race is a regional qualifier for the national championship meet, both on the individual and team level.

The Panther men finished sixth overall, and the women placed 17th. The finish was one of the highest in team history for the men at regionals. Nonetheless, it was still not quite good enough to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, an honor awarded only to the top two men’s and women’s teams.

The day belonged to Georgetown University, who won the men’s competition with 66 points and whose women also earned an automatic bid by finishing second with 77 points.

The other teams earning automatic bids were American University on the men’s side with 79 points and the women’s champion Princeton. By comparison, the Pitt men compiled 172 points and the women, 474 points.

Despite failing to qualify, the men ran a very good race as a unit, and for the third consecutive season at regionals, had two runners in the top 35.

“Though we were a bit disappointed, we ran after the front man from the get-go until about mile three, which we really hadn’t done yet this year, before fading a little at the end,” Webb said.

Leading the way was junior Sam Bair, who bounced back from a poor showing in his last meet to finish in eighth place with a time of 30:38.10. Bair was only two runners away from qualifying for nationals and still has a chance if he is awarded an at-large bid.

The announcement should come early this week as to whether or not Bair will be granted the bid. The other Pitt runner finishing in the top 35 was senior Andy Tomaswick who ran the best race of his career in this, his final meet. Tomaswick came in second for the Panthers and 28th overall with a time of 31:23.30.

Rounding out the top-five for the men were seniors Tim Konoval, who placed 36th with a time of 31:39.30, Eric Fleming, who took 42nd at 31:52.20, and Mike Long, who ran for a time of 32:21.50 and 58th place.

“Overall I was pretty pleased with the way they ran,” Webb said of the men’s performance. “The guys are a little disappointed because we didn’t achieve our ultimate goal of qualifying as a team for the NCAAs, but we ran well, especially given our last two races which were not great performances. We put together a pretty solid meet.”

Also running well, the Panther women outpaced most people’s expectations, including those of their coach, en route to one of their best performances of the season.

“The women’s performance was better than I expected,” Webb said. “They are very young but have been getting better and better each race.”

Leading the Panther women was sophomore Bailey Flask, who finished in 66th place with a time of 22:16.20. Just behind her in 74th place was sophomore Monica Bhattacharjee with a time of 22:31.40. Rounding out the top five for the women were junior Nikki Bielick, who finished in 96th with a time of 22:49.80; senior Suzy Bossart, who took 116th at 23:16.10; and sophomore Aly Brown, who finished in 122nd with a time of 23:22.40.

The race concluded the season for the Panthers, who will graduate most of their roster on the men’s side. The majority of the women’s team will be returning in 2007, however.

The cross country season may be over, but the team is not taking a day off. The Panthers will immediately begin training for the indoor track season this week, before receiving a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We’ll give them a minor break, but given the conditioning the team has had during the cross country season, they should now be ready to go for track.”