Ithaca Trying for Record 12th NYSCTC Championship
Canton, N.Y. -- The Ithaca women’s cross country team will look to finish in the top three for the 12th time in 13 years at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Championships on Saturday at St. Lawrence.
With a first place finish on Saturday, the Bombers would move into a tie with Geneseo for the most NYSCTC championship titles. Ithaca has broken the tape 11 times since 1983, including a stretch of seven straight victories from 1984-1991.
Ithaca placed second out of 10 competing teams in the 2010 state meet. The Bombers’ top seven runners each clocked in at season-best times on the five-kilometer course. Senior Heidi Baumbach (Lake Placid/Lake Placid) paced Ithaca with a time of 17:56 to place third in a field of 102 runners. Graduate student Alissa Kersey (Sandy Creek/Sodus) crossed the finish line in sixth at 18:07. Juniors Meghan Schneck (Brick Township/Brick, N.J.) and Ebonie Howard (North Country Union/North Troy, Vt.) finished 19th and 20th in 18:53 and 18:54, respectively.
On Saturday, Ithaca came in fifth out of 33 teams at the Oberlin’s Inter-Regional Rumble in Oberlin, Ohio. Baumbach finished first for the Blue & Gold and seventh overall with a season-best time of 22:42.40 on the six- kilometer course. Two other Bombers achieved season-best times. Kersey clocked in at 23:10.90, and senior Molly Quinn (C.W. Baker/Baldwinsville) completed the course in 24:02.80. Kersey raced to a 24th place finish, and Quinn came in 64th, in the field of 282 runners.