Huskies Travel to Slippery Rock for PSAC Championships

BLOOMSBURG-The Bloomsburg University men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Slippery Rock on Saturday to compete in the 2005 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships.

In 2004, the men finished fourth, while the women's were sixth in the race. Lock Haven, for the second consecutive season, won the title on the men's side, and Edinboro was crowned the team champion, finishing five runners in the top 10.

The women, currently ranked 15th in the nation by the Division II Cross Country Coaches Association, will look to catch two teams in front of them, including an Edinboro team that returns its entire lineup after taking second at the NCAA National Championships in 2004. Edinboro sits at eighth, nationally, while Indiana (PA) is ranked 12th in Division II.

"Edinboro is definitely considered the favorite," said head coach Karen Brandt. "We have our sights set on IUP who we have crept up on all season. We want to get the job done on Saturday and beat them."

In the men's race, the competition will be a little deeper for the Huskies.

"The men have had some difficulties throughout the season and have slipped in the conference standings," Brandt said. "Obviously, they want to show the conference that they shouldn't be written off as a team."

In the latest regional rankings, the women earned the third slot in the East, behind Edinboro and Indiana (PA), while the men are seventh, with Lock Haven and Shippensburg in the top two spots.

In the women's race, 2004 All-PSAC performer Amber Hackenberg (Middleburg/Middleburg) will lead the Huskies. Hackenberg finished 11th at least year's championships and earned PSAC Runner of the Week honors the week of Sept. 18. At the Lock Haven Invitational, Hackenberg finished as the top Division II runner, placing third and she took fourth at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational, the second Division II runner to cross the line.

Seniors Mary Bacher (Allentown/Allentown Central Catholic) and Katie Conlon (Inkerman/Pittston) will compete in their final PSAC Championship race for the Huskies. Bacher, who finished 28th at the 2004 PSAC Championships, took 116th in the Penn State National Race, while Conlon was 178th. Bacher also posted a 12th-place finish at the Slippery Rock Invitational and was 34th at the Penn State Spiked Shoe, helping the team to a fourth-place finish. Conlon took 49th at the Spiked Shoe and was 38th at the Lock Haven Invitational. She finished 58th at last year's championship race.

Junior Karen Hause (Bloomsburg/Central Columbia), who took 165th at the Penn State National, will line up for the Huskies. Hause, who was 30th in the 2004 championships,

A trio of freshmen will also race for the Huskies in Beth Schwing (Hershey/Lower Dauphin), Ashley Shuck (Milton/Milton) and Shannon Hoffman (Watstontown/Warrior Run). Schwing placed 14th at the Slippery Rock Invitational and took 170th at the Penn State National. She also posted a 62nd-place finish at the Spiked Shoe. Shuck, placing 101st at the Penn State National, has been consistent in the top three for the Huskies. She took sixth at the Slippery Rock Invitational and was 26th at the Spiked Shoe. Shuck also posted a sixth-place finish at the Bison Open. Hoffman posted a 13th-place finish at Slippery Rock and finished 146th at the Penn State National. She also posted a 13th-place finish at the Bison Open.

The men's squad is led by Justin Shepherd (Cranberry Twp./Seneca Valley) who took 10th last season, earning All-PSAC honors for the second-straight year. This season, Shepherd picked up right where he left off, finishing first for the Huskies in every race in 2005. At the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational, Shepherd took seventh, after finishing 50th in 2004, to lead the team to a seventh-place finish.

"Justin as an individual should be right at the top of the standings, but we need the other guys to have great races to close the gap that has developed to him," Brandt said.

That gap has developed partly in the absence of Mike Espinosa (Media/Penncrest), who will back on the line this weekend for the Huskies. Espinosa missed the greater part of the season to a bad ankle sprain after finishing 20th at last year's championships and earning All-East Region honors last year, placing 9th at the regional race.

"I think the guys will be glad to have him back helping to push everyone along to the best team finish we can accomplish," Brandt said. "I think the men will feel a little more settled that all of the guys who should be on the line will be there."

Dan Ezzi (Mechanicsburg/Trinity) and Dave Sanford (Nescopeck/Central Columbia) have also run well for the Huskies this season. Ezzi took 11th at the Slippery Rock Invitational and finished 47th at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational, finishing in the second and third slot for Bloomsburg at the grunt of the team's races. He took 65th in last year's title race. Sanford finished 30th at the Slippery Rock Invitational and was 43rd at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational; he took 63rd at last year's PSAC Championships.

Jake Stamey (Danville/Danville) and Bill Shepardson (McMurray/Peters Twp.) will also run for the Huskies. Stamey finished 52nd at the Spiked Shoe, while Shepardson was 59th. At last year's PSAC title race, Shepardson finished 55th. Chip Carnes (Williamsport/ Williamsport), who will also take the line for the Huskies, was 43rd last year, and posted 58th-place finish at the Lock Haven Invitational. Freshman Tony Skiles (West Reading/Wyomissing) will round out the Huskies' lineup for Saturday after posting 29th-place finish at the Slippery Rock Invitational and taking 43rd at the Lock Haven Invitational.

Despite the magnitude of the race, Brandt believes the team has kept its focus and not let distractions have the opportunity to affect them.

"The emphasis this week has been on staying relaxed and cool," she said. "We aren't talking a great deal about the championship. They all know what is ahead of them and they know what they have to do in order to accomplish what they want."

With four freshmen competing between both teams, Brandt has been ecstatic with the level of focus and maturity this class has possessed.

"I can't say enough for the caliber of person, student and athlete this freshman class is," she said. "They can run the gamut of acting like goofy kids having fun and laughing to lining up at the start and racing away like professionals."

Brandt's eyes were especially opened last weekend when the teams ran at Elizabethtown under unfavorable conditions.

"It had poured rain there all day Friday so everything was soggy and/or flooded then it started to rain five minutes before the women's race start," she said. "It didn't deter anyone from going out there hard from the gun and running aggressively. They ran through all of the slop without hesitation."

Mentally and physically, Brandt has seen an improvement in the team and finds it hard to believe the season is coming to a close.

"We have worked hard but had a great time along the way and I can't quite believe it is already time for the conference championship," she said. "We have seen tremendous improvement in many of the athletes, new and returning, and we are very proud to coach them."