even members of the men's cross country team ran the last crosscountry race Saturday at the Great Lakes regional. They finished20th in the 32-team field, but the results didn't really mean much,what meant something was the fact it would never happen again.
"They left it all out there, they gave a hundred percent and Ican't fault them for that," student assistant Michael Johnsonsaid.
Wisconsin, the #2 team in the country, won the meet with 72points and Eastern Michigan's Gavin Thompson easily won the racewith a time of 30:12, 25 seconds ahead of the second placefinisher.
The team was led by senior Sal Impellitteri who placed 85th witha time of 32:34. His time on the 10-kilometer course was a personalrecord for him.
"Sal took it out from the beginning and that was good for all ofthem," Johnson said.
"It was great that I could see the leaders going into the fourthand fifth kilometers," Impellitteri said about his performance.
In their first collegiate 10-kilometer race, three freshmanfilled up the second through fourth team spots. Stephen Cohenfinished 94th with a time of 32:49, Justin Stadt finished 124thwith a time of 33:14 and Jeff Kent finished 138th with a time of33:27.
"I realized this is the last cross country race of the year andI'm feeling good. I might as well sprint it out the last 200 orso," Cohen said about his final effort in the race, which allowedhim to pass three people including one right at the finishline.
Senior Aaron Hoover ran the course in 34:20 to put him in 175thplace and the fifth team spot. The other two runners for theCardinals were senior Steve Samuel who placed 181st with a time of34:33 and junior Kyle Hinkelman who placed 190th with a time of35:01.
"They ran as hard as they could have run, that's all thatmatters," head coach Jermaine Jones said.
Emotions were high and nothing but praise circled the team afterthe race.
"I think really overall, this is one of the most successfulseasons we've had since I've been here," Hoover said.
"We grew a lot, we improved upon ourselves throughout theseason. We might not be exactly where we want to be as a team, butwe did make improvements and that's all that counts," Cohensaid.
Stadt summed up the season when he said, "It's been great, Icouldn't ask for more."
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