Hill Leads Men’s Cross Country to 3rd At Paul Short Run

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — NC State sophomore Ryan Hill edged a tightly packed group by a second to take first place and lead the 19th-ranked Wolfpack to a strong third-place finish Friday at the 2009 Paul Short Run, held at Lehigh University.

Hill, who won the season-opening Wolfpack Invite two weeks ago, ran the 8K course in a time of 23:40, helping the Pack amass a team total of 87 points and a third-place finish. Senior John Martinez finished 12th at 23:54, with sophomore Bobby Moldovan 22nd at 24:10, redshirt-freshman Patrick Campbell 26th at 24:14 and sophomore Andrew North 27th at 24:15.

"Ryan Hill is a high-caliber athlete, and he ran a really high-caliber race against a really strong field," Wolfpack men's coach Rollie Geiger said. "John Martinez ran a good race for us. But as a team, we can run better. We need more people in that group at the front of the race. We didn't run poorly, but we have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be."

Indiana won the men’s race with a team score of 44 points, paced by redshirt-freshman Andrew Bayer, who finished third at 23:42. Seventh-ranked Iona was second with 55 points, paced by second-place finisher Jason Weller.

On the women’s side, NC State got strong performances from sophomore Emily Pritt, senior Brittany Tinsley and freshman Jordan Jenkins to pull out a fourth-place finish with 153 points.

Pritt and Tinsely essentially crossed the finish line together, with Pritt officially seventh at 20:07 and Tinsley eighth at 20:08. Jenkins finished 22nd at 20:58. Freshmen Erin Mercer (45th at 21:29) and Julia Kick (73rd at 21:44) rounded out the scoring for the NC State women.

"Emily and Britt ran really well, and Jord Jenkins ran a strong race," women's coach Laurie Henes said. "I think with the other freshmen, they may have been a little awed by the size of the race. I think it was good to line them up in this race, and they're capable of contributing, but they need to get accustomed to this kind of event. We're certainly well ahead of where we were last year, but we have a long way to go."

West Virginia, ranked fourth nationally, won the team race with a score of 105 points. The University of Guelph was second, paced by a second-place finish from junior Lindsay Carson. Indiana was third with 143 points.

The individual women’s winner was sophomore Neely Spence of Shippensburg, who ran the 6K course in a time of 19:58.