Eric Fleming feels that Pitt’s cross county team has not received much preseason respect…. Eric Fleming feels that Pitt’s cross county team has not received much preseason respect.

“We have a lot of depth, and we’re still a young team,” Fleming was quoted as having said on http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com. “I think we’re going to turn a lot of heads this year.”

More respect could be on the way if last weekend was any indication. Heads turned as the Panthers turned in a dominating victory at the Duquesne Duals for both the men and women’s squads.

Key to both the men and women’s victories this past weekend was their ability to run together in a very tight and united pack, an important but often overlooked detail of a cross country race. In order to have a successful team, “the pack” must decide, among other things, where to accelerate and decelerate at crucial stages within the race, as well as provide motivation for lagging teammates to pick up the pace.

On Saturday, “the pack” maneuvered its way to perfection in the first meet of the 2005 season as both teams finished in first place above host Duquesne.

“We were always in a group,” said sophomore Ali Briggs. “That helps for a strong team finish.”

The teams competed against Penn State at Altoona, St. Bonaventure and cross-city rivals Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon.

The performance of his team did not surprise head coach Alonzo Webb, but even he had to admit the results were better than anticipated.

“You don’t usually expect these kinds of results from a young team like ours so early in the season,” he said.

As proof of their domination, a total of 12 Panther runners broke into the top 10 at this year’s meet (six men and six women). In comparison, last year’s competition saw only three top-10 finishes from both the men and women’s teams.

Leading the way for the women was Briggs, who came in second place with a time of 18:55, 13 seconds behind the winner. Running on her heels were Nicki Angstadt and Nikki Bielick, who captured third and fourth places respectively with times of 19:02 and 19:04.

On the men’s side, Pittsburgh native Samuel Bair III feasted on the local competition en route to a first-place finish overall. The sophomore son of Pitt assistant coach Sam Bair crossed the finish line with a time of 25:24. Next in line for the men was junior Tim Konoval, who finished third with a time of 25:47. Sixth-place finisher Eric Fleming rounded out the top three for the men.

“It was not a real high-powered meet, but it served as a good confidence builder and tuneup for the more challenging meets ahead,” Webb said of the Duquesne Duals.

One of the challenging meets Webb refers to happens to be the Panthers’ next competition, the Iona College Meet of Champions. The event will take place in Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, N.Y., on September 24.

The scheduled long break between meets was intended to give the team an opportunity to train very hard for a few weeks and then rest in preparation for the meet.

Webb believes the meet will be the first real test of his young team’s character.

“We will be competing against many top teams on a very tough course,” he said. “It will give us a good indication of what kind of team we really have.”