Felician Athletics - 10/18/07 CROSS-COUNTRY - Felician, Georgian Court Set To Defend Titles Saturday

courtesy Kirk Reed, CACC Assistant Commissioner

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Felician College men and the Georgian Court University women will attempt to defend their Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) cross-country titles this weekend at the 2007 Championships in Philadelphia. The event will return to Belmont Plateau this season, with the women (5k) starting at 10:30 a.m. and the men (8k) to follow at approximately 11:15 a.m.

The Felician men have captured the last three CACC crowns and five of the last seven. The Golden Falcons won last year’s event with 48 points as its top five runners all placed in the top 17. All five of those runners return in 2007, along with numerous talented freshmen. Philadelphia was second last year with 71 points and Wilmington was next with 75.

There will be a new individual champion in 2007 as last year’s winner, Josh Vander Veen of Philadelphia, graduated. Nine of last year’s 15-member All-CACC team return, which will make for a very competitive field. The top returning finisher is sophomore Joe Debus of Wilmington, who placed second in 2006 as a freshman. Also returning are top-10 finishers Walter Tum of Bloomfield, Matt Willard and Nick Willey of USP and Mike Burghoffer (Stockholm, NJ/Wallkill Valley), Paul Chegwidden (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) and Alex Wright (Stockholm, NJ/Wallkill Valley of Felician.

Five different student-athletes have earned CACC Male Runner of the Week honors this season, and only two were named multiple times. USP’s Willard and Wilmington’s Debus were both named three times, including on Sept. 4 when they were the co-Runners of the Week. Felician freshman Jay Rodgers (Westmont, NJ/Haddon Township) has garnered Rookie of the Week accolades four times.

Georgian Court has won three of the last four women’s championships, including last year with 61 points. The Lions, who return two All-CACC performers, were followed by Felician (85) and Philadelphia (87) in last year’s race.

A total of 10 All-CACC runners are returning for their respective teams, including nine of the top 10 finishers from the 2006 event. Among the returning top-10 finishers is individual champion Amanda Scibetta (Middletown, NJ/Middletown North of Felician. Also returning are Joy Aifuwa of USP, Kara Laufer, Melissa Rennekamp and Faith Anderson of Philadelphia, Joleen Butterfield of Nyack, Danielle Burcham of Wilmington and Kim Galvin and Eileen Jemison of Georgian Court.

A number of newcomers could have a big impact on Saturday’s women’s race, as Georgian Court freshman Heather Miara has won four races thus far in 2007. Furthermore, Wilmington freshman Rory Kauffman has won three invitational titles. Meanwhile, USP’s Aifuwa has earned one first-place finish this season to go with three second place showings.

Four different student-athletes have earned CACC Female Runner of the Week honors. Aifuwa was the winner three times, Kauffman and Miara were named twice each and Felician’s Scibetta was the choice once. Furthermore, Kauffman was the Rookie of the Week five times and Miara was the recipient twice.