MARSHALL INDEPENDENT (© 2002 story reprinted with permission)
9-13-2002
-Tiger boys 2nd, girls 4th at Hutchinson
HUTCHINSON � Led by Yahya Iman�s second-place showing, the Marshall boys cross country team finished behind Mankato West in the Hutchinson Invitational Thursday. It was billed as a preview race for the sectional, where West is the defending champion. The Scarlets won, 42-62. �I�m disappointed in the (score),� Tiger coach Mike Jacobs said. �It�s deceiving. It makes it look like we got blown away, but we were totally in that race.�
Iman was timed in 16:28 � eight seconds behind a West runner. Akey Jumale of the Tigers finished fifth in 16:52, while teammates Tom Allen and Jon Tauer were 14th and 17th. Allen was just 11 seconds away from breaking the 17-minute mark, and Tauer was just 10 seconds behind him as the Tigers� pack remains strong.
West placed four runners before Marshall�s No. 3 runner. �If we had 10 (more) seconds, we�d been in the upper hand and gobbled up the 20 points. It�s a matter of seconds,� Jacobs said. He said the Tigers were tired and drained from a tough meet Monday. Tauer is battling a hip problem, which was compounded the past few days when the team had speed drills.
�We�re beat up and tired,� Jacobs said. �We�ve done speed work; we�re doing training that I usually don�t do for three weeks.� Hutchinson, which finished a strong third with 73 points, threw itself in the mix as the teams to beat in the sectional meet. Jacobs said the Tigers will be rested and healthy for the sectional meet. �We will go head to head. They won�t give it to us. We certainly know we are in contention. We have to be nervous about Hutch,� Jacobs said. Salah Mohammed and Bart Johnson finished 24th and 35th, respectively for the Tigers.
In the girls race, the Tigers continued to show improvement, scoring 97 points to place fourth behind strange foes Fairmont, Hutchinson and Robbinsdale-Armstrong. Julia Schultz was seventh overall in 15:58, while Breha Holcomb and Traci Pagel cracked the top 20 runners. Schultz got under 16 minutes for the first time this season.
�Julia had a breakout race against extremely tough competition,� Jacobs said. �She was running with the best of them. It puts her in contention for the section. If she can improve a little bit and chip away at a Hutchinson girl, she can be in the running for an individual spot. �We saw a lot of improvement. We got a good time out of Breha. Traci rebounded (from Monday). Julia keeps pushing; she�s putting the bar up further every time. We had some good positives from this race.�
It was Holcomb�s second meet of the year, and she finished just 24 seconds behind Schultz. Pagel was just a second behind Holcomb. Laura Johnson cracked the top 30 for the Tiger girls with a time of 16:58. Samantha Tauer, one of the team�s several promising young runners, finished 36th with a time of 17:09. Haley Meyer was just five seconds behind Tauer in 41st place. Just 1:16 separated the top six Tiger runners. The Marshall teams are at the Canby/Minneota/Lincoln HI invitational Tuesday.
HUTCHINSON INVITATIONAL
Varsity/boys Team scores � Mankato West 42, Marshall 62, Hutchinson 73, Sartell 123, Robbinsdale-Armstrong 125, Buffalo 171, Mankato East 185, Fairmont 186, Shakopee 241, New Prague 295, Dassel-Cokato 312
Marshall varsity placings: 2. Yahya Iman, 16:28; 5. Akey Jumale, 16:52; 14. Tom Allen, 17:11; 17. Jon Tauer, 17:21; 24. Salah Mohammed, 17:31; 35. Bart Johnson, 18:41; 44. Paul Carlson, 19:02
Tiger junior varsity: 1. Ahdillahi Awali, 17:57; 9. Blaine Kuiper, 18:45; 31. Eric Ahmann, 20:30; 40. Tyler Crowley, 20:44; 47. Luke Nelson, 21:05; 58. Mahe Buecken, 21:37; 64. Tim VanMoer, 21:55; 74. Colby Bruns, 22:38
Tiger junior high: 4. Brian Byrnes, 12:16; 6. Alex Christianson, 12:31; 9. Jacob Carrow, 12:39; 24. Matt Calvin, 13:21; 25. Eric Carlson, 13:23; 52. Ben Petersen, 16:16
Varsity/girls Team scores � Fairmont 45, Hutchinson 76, Robbinsdale-Armstrong 78, Marshall 97, Buffalo 122, New Prague 135, Mankato West 161, Shakopee 206, New Ulm 232
Marshall varsity placings: 7. Julia Schultz, 15:58; 17. Breha Holcomb, 16:22; 18. Traci Pagel, 16:23; 30. Laura Johnson, 16:58; 36. Samantha Tauer, 17:09; 41. Haley Meyer, 17:14; 61. Joni Coleman, 18:46
Tiger junior varsity: 20. Stephanie Musser, 19:08; 25. Cassie VanOverbeke, 19:48; 45. Nicole Bergstrom, 21:19
Tiger junior high: 6. Allison Schultz, 14:17; 7. Justine Heinis, 14:28; 11. Kate Geraets, 14:50; 12. Shannon French, 14:51; 28. Courtney Dardis, 16:01; 34. Erika Allen, 16:25; 37. Tiffany Schroeder, 17:05
-Courtesy Marshall Independent