September 4, 2010 - Geneva College
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September 4, 2010

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New Wilmington, PA - It was a beautiful day to run for the Geneva College cross country teams at the Fisher Invitational on the campus of Westminster College. Several of the Golden Tornadoes took advantage of the conditions with personal best performances. Geneva′s men and women each finished fourth overall in the nine team field thanks to some solid efforts at the top.

In men′s action, Nick Edinger broke the 27 minute barrier for the first time in his career with a 26:44 effort and a third place overall finish. It was only the third time in school history that a male runner has broken the 27 minute mark. Geneva′s men featured its top five runners finishing in the top 25. In addition to Edinger, Jon Shope (14), Jacob Beschner (23), Ryan Thorn (24) and Owen Struck (25) each turned in top notch performances. Grove City College won both the men′s and women′s overall event to know surprise to Geneva head coach Brian Yowler. "We are still chasing Grove City," said Yowler. But now we can at least see them ahead of us. We are making tremendous strides as a team and is exciting to watch."

After what she would consider a sub-par finish in the opening meet of the season, sophomore sensation Shannon Rech found her freshman form with a 13th place overall finish in an impressive time of 24:55 in the 5K event. In fact, Rech improved upon her time on this same course a year ago my over a minute. Freshman Alayna Merkle was Geneva′s next best finisher with a 17th place spot in a time of 25:08. Other females in the top 25 included Samantha Miller (19) and Julia Urbanski (22).

Geneva will be back on the course next Saturday when it visits another PAC foe in Waynesburg University. The Golden Tornadoes hosted the Yellowjackets in the season opener last Wednesday.

Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College′s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).

Sep 4, 2010