The Whitworthian

Issue date: 11/13/07 Last Updated: 11/17/07

Two Whitworth cross country runners advanced to nationals Saturday while the season ended for the rest of the team at the NCAA West Regionals at McIvor Park in Estacada, Ore.

Freshman Nick Gallagher finished in 11th place and sophomore Dusty Caseria in 16th place. Both runners earned All-Region honors as they finished in the top 35. Both earned the opportunity to make the trip to Northfield, Minnesota next week to compete in the NCAA Division III national championship meet.

 

“The championship meet is a huge race,” head coach Toby Schwartz said.  “Out of eight regions taking the top guys from each – all within a minute and a half of each other, it can be pretty overwhelming.”

 

Both Gallagher and Caseria will compete for the first time in a meet of this size, but Schwartz said he believes that both runners have what it takes.

 

“If they can just overcome the pressure of a big race, they should be able to do very well,” Schwartz said.

 

Gallagher and Caseria emerge from a strong region which Schwartz believes will do very well at nationals with both Willamette University’s men’s and women’s teams with a chance to take 1st as a team.

 

Fellow Whitworth teammate, senior Jacob Dietz joined Gallagher and Caseria in earning All-Region honors as he finished in 21st place.  Schwartz was pleased with the performance of all the men as they took 6th place as a team out of the 13 teams competing, saying that all the men ran well.

 

The women’s team also had several All-Region performances as junior Jenna Cunningham and sophomore Gillian Goodrich finished in 31st and 33rd places, respectively. 

 

Schwartz said that the women's team did not have the best day. 

“They committed to everything, just came up short,” Schwartz said.

 

Contact Kory Kemp at kory.kemp@whitworthian.com.

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