Oct. 16, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Deacons head into their last regular season meet on Friday, Oct. 17, at the Penn State National Invitational. The men's 8.4-kilometer race will begin at 10 a.m., with the women's 6-kilometer run following at 11 a.m. The No. 25 women's team is one of a bevy of nationally-ranked squads participating in this year's event. The women's team is coming off a strong fourth-place showing at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Oct. 4. The Southeast Region's second-ranked and nationally-ranked No. 25 Wake Forest squad will be matched up against four other top-30 teams in No. 7 West Virginia, No. 19 Georgetown, No. 20 Penn State and No. 28 Duke. Each of the top-seven finishers from the 2007 Penn State National Invite is slated to compete in Friday's event, including the 2007 individual titleholder Mountaineer Marie-Louise Asselin. "The meet will be tough," asserted head coach Annie Bennett, "but our athletes are prepared to lay it on the line." The runners for the women's event include: Cate Berenato, Marley Burns, Suzie Clinchy, Caitlin Crawford, Whitney Curry, Mary Alice Howard, Ellen Huber, Allie Kieffer, Hannah McArdle, Anna Nosenko, Dina Nosenko, Merry Placer, Laura Rapp and Cristina Richard.
Placer, the Deacons' sole redshirt senior, will be participating in her last regular season event for Wake Forest. She has been a valuable member of the cross country team since breaking onto the scene as a redshirt freshman in 2005 with a 14th-place finish at the Wake Forest Relays. A native of Flagstaff, Ariz., Placer has already notched two second-place overall times at meets this season - Wake Forest Relays (17:59) and North Carolina Challenge (18:29). She was the top Deacon finisher at the North Carolina Challenge, leading Wake Forest to head-to-head victories over North Carolina and Campbell. As a redshirt junior in 2007, Placer was a top-five Deacon finisher in all six meets in which she ran. She also competed for Wake Forest in five meets as a sophomore and three as a freshman. The 28-team field for the men's event also features some very strong competition. No. 8 Georgetown and No. 28 Villanova will be in attendance, as well as Division III's top-ranked team, Cortland State, and the top-ranked Canadian squad, Guelph. Wake Forest is back in action after a sixth-place finish out of 41 teams in the White Division at the Brooks Paul Short Run on Oct. 4. Sophomore Greg Billington captured his first individual title at the event. The Deacons who are scheduled to run in the men's event are: Billington, Zach Hines, Matt King, Nicholas Lepley, Paul Loeser, Tom Morrison and Ben Morrow. With the conclusion of the regular season after the Penn State National Invitational, the Deacons will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the ACC Championships on Nov. 1. Wake Forest will host the NCAA Southeast Regionals on Nov. 15 at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, N.C. Competing Teams at the Penn State National Invitational: Men
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