C.U. Cross Country Team Runs Away With Title

Concord University's Men's Cross Country team after their win at the Mountain East Conference with Head Coach Mike Cox, who was named MEC Men's Coach of the Year. 
Photo courtesy of cumountainlions.com

Running may not be everyone’s forte, but for the Concord University Men’s Cross Country team, having running as a passion has brought them home the first Mountain East Conference win since 2007.  Saturday, October 24, Concord’s Men’s Cross Country team ran in the Mountain East Conference at the Bridgeport Recreation Complex in Bridgeport, West Virginia  

The team was led by three top runners: Stephen Starliper, Jason Weitzel, and Justin Snyder.  All three runners placed in the top 10.  

Starliper is a senior from Hancock, Maryland.  This race was his second straight second-place finish at the MEC Championship.  He completed the 8,000-meter course, which is nearly five miles, with a time of 28:22 which was nearly two minutes faster than the time he won the Pre-MEC Meet in September of this year.

Jason Weitzel is a local freshman from Athens, West Virginia and attended Pikeview High School.  He finished closely behind his teammate Starliper in third place with a time of 28:36.  His talents earned him the MEC Freshman of the Year award.  In addition to his MEC Freshman of the Year award, in early September Weitzel won the Division II race at the Coastal Carolina Invite with a time of 16:21 for the 5,000 meter course (which is a little over three miles).  This first place win helped Concord to a second-place team finish at the meet among Division II teams.

Justin Snyder, another local student, is a sophomore from Princeton who attended Princeton High School.  He ran a time of 28:54 which earned him sixth place, which was 26 spots higher than he finished last season at the league championship.  These three runners earned All-MEC First Team for placing in the top 10.

Other scoring runners that competed in the MEC were freshman Michael Ruhnke from Charleston, West Virginia, whose time was 29:21 and placed thirteenth.  Cimarron Nicely, a junior from Clifton Forge, Virginia finished fifteenth with a time of 29:34.

The scoring runners for Concord University racked up a team score of 39 points which earned them first place over West Virginia Wesleyan, who was right behind them in second place with 60 points. In cross county, a low score wins.  Head Coach Mike Cox said “you count your first 5 runners and add up the places they finish. For example, a perfect score would be 15 points if you had the top 5 runners.”

Other members of the team included Junior Brandon Lee who finished in seventeenth place, running a time of 29:47.  Lee, Nicely, and Ruhnke were all named to the All-MEC Second Team.  Freshman Tyler Kosut rounded out the finishers for Concord as he placed twenty-fifth with a time of 30:35.  Other team members include Damon Akers, Jacob Ashcraft, Roger Foster, Antonio Jones, Aaron Martin, David Meck, and Matt Strand.

Coach Cox was incredibly proud and impressed with his men’s team: “I am extremely proud of what the men were able to accomplish.  We really put it together as a team when we needed to.  Bringing home a championship is hard to do.”  He again emphasized how proud he was of his team.

To make the deal even sweeter, Coach Cox was named MEC Men’s Coach of the Year.

While the men’s team won the MEC Championship, Coach Cox said the following about his team and their efforts: “my men and women both have worked extremely hard this year and it’s been a great season.  We have a great team and family here and I’m truly blessed.”

For more information on runners and the team’s meet times, visit their page on cumountainlions.com.