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Veith Earns All-MAC Cross Country Honors

Mary Veith

MT. PLEASANT, MI – The Mid-American Conference held its 2007 Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Riverwood Resort in Mt. Pleasant, MI with Central Michigan University serving as the host school. The UB women, paced by an All-MAC finish by junior Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) placed 10th among 12 schools while the UB men finished seventh in a nine-team field.

Veith had a strong race for the Bulls, finishing in third place among 104 runners representing all 12 MAC women's programs. Veith turned in a 5K time of 17:48.6, just three seconds off her personal-best mark set two weeks ago at the Bowling Green Falcon Invite in preparation for Saturday's race. Veith earned her second-straight spot on the All-MAC first team. She finished second at last year's MAC Championships, hosted by Buffalo in muddy conditions. The top seven finishers earn First Team All-MAC honors while the next seven finishers are placed on the second-team.

Nicole Soblosky

Sophomore Nicole Soblosky (Colonie, NY/Colonie) finished 15th overall, just missing out on the second-team honors. Soblosky completed the course in 18:16.8, just eight-tenths of a second behind the 14th-place runner, and final All-MAC honoree, Ohio's Julia Weisenborn.

Rounding out UB's scoring runners were Jessica Schultz (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) in 71st place in 19:39.0, Megan Niblock (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) in 79th place in 19:56.5 and Amy Trumpfheller (Clarence, NY/Clarence) in 88th place in 20:17.0.

In the men's meet, senior Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) was UB's top finisher. Giza completed the 8K course in 25:49.8 to place 26th overall among 76 runners from the nine MAC men's teams.

Dan Giza

Freshman Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) was UB's second male finisher in 26:06.7 for 34th place. Jason Ayr (Westfield, MA/Westfield) placed 39th in 26:25.9. Jesse Mang (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) was 44th in 26:38.1. Scott Dickover (Middletown, NY/Middletown) and Dan Healy (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) placed 49th and 50th, respectively. Dickover finished in 26:51.3, while Healy crossed the finish line in 26:57.4.

Ohio won the women's team championship for the second straight year with 56 points, placing four runners among the top 14 finishers. The Bobcats held off Akron by just two points to claim their 10th MAC women's crown, the most by any conference member. The UB women scored 232 points to place 10th among the 12 women's entries. The Bulls finished just 14 points out of seventh place. Laura Neufarth of Miami (OH) took the women's individual title in 17:35.2, holding off Ball State's Allison Bishel (17:38.9) by three seconds as Veith finished third in the race.

Eastern Michigan won its third-straight title and 13th overall with 31 team points by placing seven finishers in the top 20. Miami (OH) was second at 50 points, while the UB men scored 180 points to finish seventh in the nine-team men's field. EMU's Josh Perrin won the men's individual title in 24:33.0 for the 8K distance.

The Bulls travel to Boston for the NCAA's Northeast Regional meet on November 10 for their next competition.

Men's team scores: Eastern Michigan 31, Miami (OH) 50, Central Michigan 98, Ohio 116, Akron 120, Kent State 130, UB 180, Bowling Green 241, Toledo 258.

Women's team scores: Ohio 56, Akron 58, Miami (OH) 77, Toledo 89, Ball State 135, Central Michigan 174, Bowling Green 218, Western Michigan 224, Ball State 230, UB 232, Eastern Michigan 286, Northern Illinois 289.