Oct. 12, 2007
Results
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Navy men's cross country team captain John Kress (Sr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) led five Midshipmen among the top-eight competitors as the Midshipmen posted a 23-35, N-Star victory over Army at the West Point Golf Course on Friday afternoon.
With the win, Navy concluded the regular season with a 1-0 record in dual-meet action and improved to 9-2 versus Army over the last-11 N-Star races and 43-27-1 all-time against the Black Knights.
"This year, we didn't make the same mistake as we made two years ago and were much more patient," stated Navy head coach Al Cantello, who picked up his 30th career N-Star victory over Army in cross country. "The race went exactly as I planned it in my head, with us getting our top-seven runners across the finish line before Army's fifth."
Racing at temperatures in the mid-50's with winds gusting to 30 mph following rainfall in the morning, Kress produced a time of 26:47 over the 8k course to boast the team's fastest time for the second-consecutive week. The Navy senior finished 15 seconds behind John Mickowski's first-place time for Army.
Immediately following Kress across the finish line was teammate John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.), who placed third with a 26:53 clocking. Navy brought home the fourth position with Bill Prom's (Jr./New Berlin, Wis.) 27:10 showing, followed by Andrew Grant's (Jr./Athens, Ga.) 27:22 clocking for sixth place and Chris Horel's (So./Belford, N.J.) eighth-place time of 27:37.
Navy's two displacing runners, Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.) and Matt Leyndyke (Traverse City, Mich.), finished before Army's fifth and final scoring runner on Friday. Hanko, who had been hampered with an ankle injury for much of the season, came through with a ninth-place time of 27:39. Leyndyke followed eight seconds behind Hanko to finish 11th with a 27:47 showing.
With the women's team defeating Army, 23-38, later in the day, the Navy cross country teams swept the Black Knights in West Point for the third time in school history. The prior two occasions came in 1989 and 1991. The two N-Star victories for the cross country teams on Friday upped Navy's overall record against Army this season to 4-1 and 3-1 in Star contests.
The Midshipmen will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 27, when they head to Lafayette's Metzgar Fields in Easton, Pa., for the 2007 Patriot League Championship. Race time is scheduled for 11 a.m.
