2010 Men's Cross Country - Year In Review

2010 Men's Cross Country - Year In Review

Coaching Staff
Bob Braman, Head Coach
Kenny Jesensky, Volunteer Assistant
Steve Mucchetti, Graduate Assistant

Click here for team picture

Click here to see individual mug shots
2010 Men's & Women's Cross Country


2010 Florida State Signees/Newcomers

Dominick Cabrera, Miami

Michael Wallace, Jacksonville

Jakub Zivec, Litomerice, Czech Republic


2010 Roster - By Name

L
T                            PY
R Name                  Cl   Ltr  Hometown (Prior School)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Jacob Brooks          Jr   *    Fort Myers (Fort Myers)
  Dominick Cabrera      Fr        Miami (Columbus)
  Nathan Duby           So-R      Winter Springs (Winter Springs)
* David Forrester       So        Billinge, England (Liverpool)
* Mike Fout             Jr   **   LaPorte, Ind. (LaPorte)
  Darrin Gibson         So        Tampa (Robinson)
  John Grellner         Fr-R      Tampa (Wharton)
* Justin Harbor         Sr-R ***  Bunnell (Flager-Palm Coast/Oregon)
* Matt Leeder           Sr   ***  Brockville, Ontario, Canada (Thousand Island Secondary)
* Nicholas Maedel       Jr-R *    Orange Park (Ridgeview/West Florida)
* Ciaran O'Lionaird     Sr-R *    Cork, Ireland (De La Salle/Michigan)
  Tyler Price           Jr-R **   Tallahassee (Wakulla)
* Seth Proctor          Jr-R      Orlando (Edgewater)
  Sean Quinn            Fr-R      Punta Gorda (Bishop Verot)
  Christopher Rego      So        Melbourne (Satellite)
* Wes Rickman           So   *    Peyton, Colo. (Falcon)
  Daniel Silva          Jr-R      Miami (Belen Jesuit Prep)
* Alex Smyth            Sr-R      Sequim, Wash. (Sequim/Eastern Washington)
  Michael Wallace       Fr        Jacksonville (Bishop Kenny)
* Jakub Zivec           Fr        Litomerice, Czech Republic (Gymnazium Josefa Jungmann)

2010 Conference Awards

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Braman               Atlantic Coast Conference - Coach of the Year

David Forrester          Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference

Matt Leeder              Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference

Ciaran O'Lionaird        Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference

Wes Rickman              Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference

Jakub Zivec              Atlantic Coast Conference - Freshman of the Year
                         Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference

All-Conference -  6

2010 All-Americans

Name                     Organization
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Fout                NCAA - All-American - 28th place

Ciaran O'Lionaird        NCAA - All-American - 18th place

All-Americans -  2

2010 Schedule and Results

DATE
POST
GAME
BOX
SCORE
LOC
OPPONENT
SCORE
09/03
Postgame
Box
N
Covered Bridge Open
Boone, N.C.
8th Place
09/19
Postgame
Box
A
Boston
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
W 20-31
10/01
Postgame
Box
N
Notre Dame Invitational
South Bend, Ind.
3rd Place
10/08
Postgame
Box
H
FSU Invitational
1st Place
10/15
Postgame
Box
N
Royal Cross Country Challenge
Charlotte, N.C.
12th Place
10/16
Postgame
Box
N
Pre-Nationals
Terre Haute, Ind.
3rd Place
10/30
Postgame
Box
N
ACC Championship
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
1st Place
11/13
Postgame
Box
N
NCAA South Regional
Birmingham, Ala.
2nd Place
11/22
Postgame
Box
N
NCAA Championship
Terre Haute, Ind.
2nd Place
EOY Stats Ref

                Overall   Home    Away   Neutral
------------------------------------------------
FSU record is    1- 0     0- 0     1- 0     0- 0


2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Results
 1  Florida State          43
 2  North Carolina State   81
 3  North Carolina         84
 4  Virginia               92
 5  Duke                   93
 6  Wake Forest           209
 7  Virginia Tech         242
 8  Maryland              244
 9  Boston College        254
10  Clemson               267
11  Georgia Tech          271
12  Miami                 357

2010 EOY Stats

Team Overall Name Races Top 7 Top 10 Wins =============================================== Ciaran O'Lionaird 8 8 4 1 Mike Fout 8 8 3 0 Alex Smyth 8 8 1 0 Wes Rickman 8 7 1 0 Matt Leeder 6 6 2 0 David Forrester 6 6 1 0 Jakub Zivec 6 5 1 0 Justin Harbor 5 2 1 0 Nicholas Maedel 5 2 1 0 Christopher Rego 2 1 0 0 Tyler Price 2 1 0 0 John Grellner 2 1 0 0 Nathan Duby 2 1 0 0 Seth Proctor 2 1 0 0 Jacob Brooks 2 0 0 0 Sean Quinn 1 1 0 0 Daniel Silva 1 0 0 0 Darrin Gibson 1 0 0 0

Covered Bridge Open, 8th place
09/03/2010, Boone, N.C.

MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
  43   Justin Harbor                 41   20:51.47
  44   Mike Fout                     42   20:51.70
  45   Ciaran O'Lionaird             43   20:51.90
  46   David Forrester               44   20:52.12
  47   Matt Leeder                   45   20:52.34
  48   Jakub Zivec                   46   20:52.60
  49   Alex Smyth                    47   20:52.83
  50   Wes Rickman                  xxx   20:53.04
  51   Nicholas Maedel              xxx   20:53.22
  52   Jacob Brooks                 xxx   20:53.50

Florida State 20, Boston 31
09/19/2010, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

Men, Women Both Earn 1st.

FSU men's and women's cross country teams each earn first-place finishes in dual meet against Boston University in Franklin, Mass.

FRANKLIN, MA - The Florida State men's and women's cross country teams both came away with wins at the Boston University Invitational Sunday in New England.

In a dual meet with the Terriers, the No. 2-ranked women's squad won by a score of 23-37 while the men's team earned a 20-31 triumph. The women ran a 5K and the men ran an 8K. Boston University captured the two individual winners in the two races but the Seminole runners as a whole had a terrific day.

Perhaps more important than the outcomes was the fact that FSU had the chance to get a feel for a course that they will visit one more time this year for the ACC Championships on Oct. 30.

Interestingly enough, the women all finished in the lead pack with a time of 18:48. Despite the identical times, senior Hannah Brooks was credited with second place and senior Pasca Cheruiyot earned third.

Kailand Cosgrove was fourth and Jennifer Dunn was fifth. Astrid Leutert, Bree-Anne McArdle, Emily Ness, Andi Palen, Jessica Parry, Lyndsey Spragins, Kara Taylor, Amanda Winslow and Pilar McShine rounded out positions six through 15.

"We felt very fortunate to run on the ACC course and are very grateful to Boston University for providing us this early-season meet," FSU women's coach Karen Harvey said. "Not only did we get some great training while in Boston, we learned a lot about the Franklin Park course."

In the men's 8K race, sophomore David Forrester's time of 24:44 was good enough for second place and Alex Smyth's 24:45 time was enough for a third-place finish.

Jakub Zivec (25:01), Michael Fout (25:01), Wes Rickman (25:01) and Ciaran O'Lionaird (25:03) rounded out positions four through seven. Matt Leeder (25:11) came in 10th and Justin Harbor (25:13) came in 11th.

"We had eight of our guys finish in the top 11, so that was good," FSU men's coach Bob Braman said. "Again, this was great for us to be able to come up here and get a feel for the course. It gives us an advantage when we get to ACCs next month. Boston College is the only other ACC school that will have run on this course."

Next up for the Seminoles is a trip to South Bend, Ind. to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 1. That race will serve as the first opportunity for points for nationals for Florida State.

MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
   2   David Forrester                2   24:44   
   3   Alex Smyth                     3   24:45   
   4   Jakub Zivec                    4   25:01   
   5   Mike Fout                      5   25:01   
   6   Wes Rickman                    6   25:01   
   7   Ciaran O'Lionaird              7   25:03   
  10   Matt Leeder                   10   25:11   
  11   Justin Harbor                xxx   25:13   
  14   Jacob Brooks                 xxx   26:00   
  15   Nicholas Maedel              xxx   26:04   

Notre Dame Invitational, 3rd place
10/01/2010, South Bend, Ind.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

Different Days, Same Outcome.

Both FSU cross country teams earn third-place finishes at Notre Dame Invitational despite two very different races.

SOUTH BEND, IN - The Florida State men's and women's cross country teams both finished in third place in their respective races in Friday's Notre Dame Invitational.

The way that both squads got there, however, is a different story.

While the No. 23 men's team went out and performed from start to finish without much ado, women's coach Karen Harvey was at a loss for words at the conclusion of her team's race. In fact, in all her years of coaching, Harvey had never experienced anything like what took place Friday in South Bend, Ind.

"Both of my top two runners fell," Harvey said. "It was something that I had never seen before. Both Pilar McShine and Pasca Cheruiyot fell. Those are our top two and I have never see that happen. Despite all of that, we were still able to finish well but we could have done so much better."

As a group, the No. 2-ranked women got out to a great start before McShine fell within the first 100 meters. By falling, McShine not only dropped back from her teammates but slid all the way to the very last spot out of 194 runners.

Miraculously, though, FSU's leader did the unthinkable and charged back. At race's end, the Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago native had fought and willed her all the way back to a remarkable 15th place - a spot that was first amongst FSU women.

"I thought we were in real trouble when I saw that she was dead last at 600 meters," Harvey said about McShine, who finished with a time of 16:56. "I thought there was no way she would get up. Not only did she get up but she passed all but 14 runners of the entire field in just 17 minutes.

"That is honestly one of the most truly inspiring races I have ever seen."

As for the rest of the Seminoles, Amanda Winslow's time of 17:05 earned a 20th place finish. Jessica Parry (17:09) came in 23rd, Jennifer Dunn (17:22) finished in 34th, and Cheruiyot - despite her fall at a mile and a half in - rounded out FSU's top four by coming in 37th with a 17:23 mark.

"So many things went wrong today but we still had an opportunity," Harvey said. "I told the girls that I think this all happened for a reason. They need to use what Pilar did as motivation from here on out."

On the men's side, things certainly weren't as dramatic.

Mike Fout paced head coach Bob Braman's team with a ninth place finish thanks to a time of 24:08.

"The guys really competed very well," Braman said. "Fout finishing in the top in that caliber of meet is an All-American type performance."

Joining Fout at the top of the pack were three of his FSU teammates in the top 20. David Forrester finished 16th with a 24:15 and Alex Smyth was right behind with a 17th place finish on a 24:16 race-time.

Wes Rickman ended the evening in the No. 19 position with a time of 24:17.

"The first four did a great job," Braman said. "Obviously we would have liked to see our seniors Ciaran O'Lionaird and Matt Leeder up there but the good news is that we have two veterans that can be our fifth scored guys and that is huge. Both those guys are All-ACC runners so we are going to be fine."

In addition to being pleased with how each of his student-athletes performed, Braman is also pleased by the fact that the outcome may result in the shifting of the national and regional polls.

"This will probably put us in the top 12," Braman said. "The main thing was generating points. Alabama was the top team in our region and we took them apart. I think our performance up here will be enough to make us be considered the top team in the region."

The regional and national rankings will come out early next week.

FSU will next be in action in the lone home meet of the year. The Florida State Invitational will take place Oct. 8 and 9 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
2010 NOTRE DAME CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL                                                                                                                                                              
------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                                                                  
8K                                                                                                                                                                                                      
------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                                                                  
 1. OREGON          1   3  18  20  27  (29) (36) =  69                                                                                                                                                  
 2. NEW MEXICO      2   4   6  11  55  (63) (87) =  78                                                                                                                                                  
 3. FLORIDA STATE   9  16  17  19  38  (41) (78) =  99                                                                                                                                                  
 4. TULSA          21  34  37  48  56  (72) (92) = 196                                                                                                                                                  
 5. PENN STATE      7  13  52  59  74  (80)(110) = 205                                                                                                                                                  
 6. UCLA           14  35  42  51  64  (66)(102) = 206                                                                                                                                                  
 7. NOTRE DAME     15  28  40  44  81  (89)(103) = 208                                                                                                                                                  
 8. ALABAMA         5  23  46  50 118 (126)      = 242                                                                                                                                                  
 9. TEXAS EL PASO   8  22  25  96 109            = 260                                                                                                                                                  
10. INDIANA STATE  30  43  53  76  86 (108)(117) = 288                                                                                                                                                  
11. ARIZONA STATE  12  47  67  75  88 (100)(114) = 289                                                                                                                                                  
12. BUTLER         31  39  61  71  90 (121)(142) = 292                                                                                                                                                  
13. VILLANOVA      32  49  65  77  83  (84) (95) = 306                                                                                                                                                  
14. UTAH STATE     10  26  85  99 106 (112)(115) = 326                                                                                                                                                  
15. AMERICAN       45  57  58  97 104 (113)(122) = 361                                                                                                                                                  
16. WEBER STATE    24  68  69 107 120 (141)      = 388                                                                                                                                                  
17. FRESNO STATE   33  70  79  91 124 (128)(129) = 397                                                                                                                                                  
18. OAKLAND        54  60  82 101 116 (125)(127) = 413                                                                                                                                                  
19. WASHINGTON     62  73  93  98 105 (123)      = 431                                                                                                                                                  
20. SOUTHERN UTAH  94 119 130 131 133 (136)(138) = 607                                                                                                                                                  
21. SAN DIEGO     111 132 134 135 137 (139)(140) = 649                                                                                                                                                  
MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
   9   Mike Fout                      9   24:08   
  16   David Forrester               16   24:15   
  17   Alex Smyth                    17   24:16   
  19   Wes Rickman                   19   24:17   
  38   Ciaran O'Lionaird             38   24:40   
  41   Matt Leeder                   41   24:42   
  79   Nicholas Maedel               78   25:17   
 128   Justin Harbor                xxx   26:13   

FSU Invitational, 1st place
10/08/2010, Tallahassee, Fla.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

FSU Invitational Results.

The Florida State cross country team hosted its lone home meet of the season on Friday night with a women's 5k and a men's 8k races.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The beautiful Apalachee Regional Park was the setting for the Florida State cross country program's lone home meet of the season Friday night.

The 2010 FSU Invitational brought some talented college programs to Tallahassee for a women's 5k and men's 8k race.

In the men's 8k, redshirt senior Justin Harbor led the Seminoles with a fourth-place finish thanks to a time of 25:01.

Redshirt junior Nicholas Maedel also had a terrific evening as he set a new personal record with a time of 25:12. Maedel's time broke his previous best of 25:13 and earned him a 10th-place finish. Closely trailing Maedel were his teammates as six FSU runners finished in the next seven spots.

"I think it was a very good night and we did what we set out to do," FSU men's coach Bob Braman said. "Several of our B-team guys set new season highs or personal records. And the top guys got some good training."

Like the men's squad, women's coach Karen Harvey wanted to utilize the home meet to get some extra training in while also running all of her top girls.

In the women's event, two Seminoles finished in the top 10. senior Andrea Palen's time of 17:59 earned her a ninth-place finish while teammate Emily Ness came in 10th with a 18:05 mark.

Next up for the 'Noles is a trip to Charlotte, NC for Royal Cross Challenge on Oct. 15.

FSU then heads to Terra Haute, Ind. for Pre-Nationals the week after.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Team Scores                                                                                                                                                                                             
===================================================                                                                                                                                                     
Rank Team                Total  1  2  3  4  5 *6 *7                                                                                                                                                     
===================================================                                                                                                                                                     
   1 Florida State          41  3  8  9 10 11 12 14                                                                                                                                                     
   2 Florida                55  1  6 13 16 19                                                                                                                                                           
   3 Stephen F. Austin      69  5  7 15 18 24 25 28                                                                                                                                                     
   4 Florida Southern      117  2 22 23 30 40 44 52                                                                                                                                                     
   5 North Florida         145 26 27 29 31 32 42 45                                                                                                                                                     
   6 Tampa                 170 17 33 35 38 47 48 49                                                                                                                                                     
   7 South Florida         171 20 21 34 41 55 59 62                                                                                                                                                     
   8 Troy University       183  4 37 43 46 53 56 60                                                                                                                                                     
   9 Florida Track Club    230 36 39 50 51 54 57 58                                                                                                                                                     
  10 Fort Valley State     330 61 63 64 70 72 73                                                                                                                                                        
  11 Edward Waters College 335 65 66 67 68 69 71                                                                                                                                                        
MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
   4   Justin Harbor                  3   25:01.02
  10   Nicholas Maedel                8   25:12.85
  11   Matt Leeder                    9   25:27.32
  12   Alex Smyth                    10   25:27.34
  13   Ciaran O'Lionaird             11   25:27.46
  14   Mike Fout                     12   25:27.59
  16   Wes Rickman                   14   25:30.05
  17   Jakub Zivec                  xxx   25:30.17
  23   Christopher Rego             xxx   25:49.33
  31   Tyler Price                  xxx   26:18.84
  37   John Grellner                xxx   26:36.54
  62   Nathan Duby                  xxx   27:37.39
  85   Daniel Silva                 xxx   28:36.77
  89   Darrin Gibson                xxx   29:36.40

Royal Cross Country Challenge, 12th place
10/15/2010, Charlotte, N.C.

MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
  44   Christopher Rego              38   25:46.3 
  65   Tyler Price                   55   26:15.3 
  88   Nathan Duby                   75   26:33.5 
  91   John Grellner                 78   26:35.6 
  94   Sean Quinn                    81   26:36.9 

Pre-Nationals, 3rd place
10/16/2010, Terre Haute, Ind.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

Women Win At Pre-Nationals.

The Florida State women's cross country team went to Indiana and captured first place in the biggest event so far this year while the men's team performs well enough for third place.

TERRE HAUTE, IN - The Florida State cross country teams had a pair of top results on Saturday morning at the Pre-National Invitational. The FSU women put on a dominating performance in winning their race while the men's squad took third in their event.

Head coach Karen Harvey's women's team dominated in the 6k against some of the top programs in the entire nation. The No. 3-ranked Seminoles scored 115 points to get past second-place Arizona (128 points).

"Of course we are really pleased with today's outcome but we have some major kinks in our armor," Harvey said. "Amanda Winslow saved the day. She ran awesome...period. Pilar is a little beat up I think, too. To get five to seven athletes to run great on one day is a lot but we will keep reaching for it.

"We are going to train very hard in preparations for ACCs."

As mentioned by Coach Harvey, Winslow performed masterfully Saturday as she set a new personal record with a time of 20:32.8. Her stellar time was enough to warrant a seventh place finish.

Trailing closely behind Winslow was her teammate Pasca Cheruiyot, who finished in 10th place. FSU's senior captain ran the race in 20:34.8.

Fellow senior Pilar McShine was the third Seminole to cross the line as she finished in 24th by clocking a time of 20:49.0. Jessica Parry (31st, 21:52.1), Jennifer Dunn (43rd, 21:07.8) and Atrid Leutert (77th, 21:29.4) rounded out the Seminole scoring.

On the men's side, redshirt senior Ciaran O'Lionaird paced Florida State in its third-place finish with a 10th place day thanks to a time of 23:52.5 in the 8k.

Michael Fout finished the race with a time a time of 24:09.8, which was enough for 25th place. David Forrester (30th, 24:14.5) and Wes Rickman (34th, 24:15.9) were not far off Fout's pace.

Alex Smyth posted a time of 24:29.8 to finish in 56th place and Jakub Zivec came in 60th with a time of 24:32.7.

"The guys ran really tough," men's head coach Bob Braman said. "I am not so sure we had the freshest legs but we ran real tough. Ciaran had a spectacular day to lead us. We beat two top-10 teams so we should move up in Monday's national polls. We also beat Florida so we should remain the top team in our region."

Next up for the 'Noles is a trip by some of the student-athletes to Central Florida to compete in the Florida Southern Invitational on Oct. 22.

The ACC Championships are slated for Oct. 30.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
2010 PRE-NATIONALS                                                                                                                                                                                      
HOSTED BY INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY                                                                                                                                                                      
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2010                                                                                                                                                                              
----------------------------------                                                                                                                                                                      
MEN'S 8OOO METER BLUE TEAM RESULTS                                                                                                                                                                      
----------------------------------                                                                                                                                                                      
 1. 43 Stanford                                                                                                                                                                                         
 2. 127 Iona                                                                                                                                                                                            
 3. 154 Florida State                                                                                                                                                                                   
 4. 192 Northern Arizona                                                                                                                                                                                
 5. 196 Princeton                                                                                                                                                                                       
 6. 204 William and Mary                                                                                                                                                                                
 7. 233 California                                                                                                                                                                                      
 8. 336 North Carolina                                                                                                                                                                                  
 9. 350 Florida                                                                                                                                                                                         
10. 354 Louisville                                                                                                                                                                                      
11. 375 Ucla                                                                                                                                                                                            
12. 384 Dartmouth                                                                                                                                                                                       
13. 400 Ohio State                                                                                                                                                                                      
14. 418 Montana State                                                                                                                                                                                   
15. 441 Illinois                                                                                                                                                                                        
16. 452 Richmond                                                                                                                                                                                        
17. 499 Utep                                                                                                                                                                                            
18. 521 Michigan State                                                                                                                                                                                  
19. 549 Purdue                                                                                                                                                                                          
20. 562 Binghamton                                                                                                                                                                                      
21. 566 McNeese State                                                                                                                                                                                   
21. 566 Dayton                                                                                                                                                                                          
23. 595 Michigan                                                                                                                                                                                        
24. 622 Nebraska                                                                                                                                                                                        
25. 641 Georgia                                                                                                                                                                                         
26. 643 Washington                                                                                                                                                                                      
27. 660 Marquette                                                                                                                                                                                       
28. 662 Mississippi                                                                                                                                                                                     
29. 663 Colorado St.                                                                                                                                                                                    
30. 669 Baylor                                                                                                                                                                                          
31. 707 Utah Valley 32.                                                                                                                                                                                 
737 South Dakota St.                                                                                                                                                                                    
33. 902 Clemson                                                                                                                                                                                         
34. 925 Arizona                                                                                                                                                                                         
35. 987 Montana                                                                                                                                                                                         
MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
  10   Ciaran O'Lionaird             10   23:52.5 
  25   Mike Fout                     25   24:09.8 
  30   David Forrester               30   24:14.5 
  34   Wes Rickman                   34   24:15.9 
  55   Alex Smyth                    55   24:29.8 
  60   Jakub Zivec                   60   24:32.7 

ACC Championship, 1st place
10/30/2010, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

Two ACC Championships!

Both Florida State cross country teams captured ACC Titles Saturday morning in Boston, Mass.

By: Brandon Mellor

BOSTON, MA - Both Florida State men's and women's cross country teams ran away with a league title Saturday morning at the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.

The women - who earned their remarkable fourth-straight ACC crown - posted a team score of 52, which was 23 points ahead of second-place Virginia.

The men's 43-point effort was 38 points in front of second-place NC State and was enough to give the Seminoles the first-ever men's conference championship in school history.

Rookie Jakub Zivec also garnered ACC Freshman of the Year honors, marking the second year in a row in which a Seminole earned that award.

"We have been second and third a whole bunch over the years," men's coach Bob Braman said. "We have been in the hunt most of the last 10 years and it is just so exciting for these guys that we were able to break through this year. We have been so close and I just have never felt better. I am not surprised we won but I am surprised at how much we won by.

"We hit an emotional high and just rode that to the end."

Two seniors guided the men's team as Matt Leeder finished the race in third place with a time of 23:42.2. Fellow veteran Ciaran O'Lionaird was not far off that pace with a fourth-place finish on a time of 23:43.6.

A trio of Seminoles next crossed the finish line a few seconds later as Zivec, David Forrester and Wes Rickman, who was last year's ACC Freshman of the Year, all crossed the mark for 11th, 12th, and 13th place finishes, respectively. Zivec registered a time of 24:07.6, Forrester finished in 24:07.9 and Rickman completed the 8k in 24:09.5.

Alex Smyth came in 16th with a time of 24:12.9 while Mike Fout came in 22nd on a run of 24:23.0.

A 33rd-place finish for Seth Proctor (24:49.7), 75th slot for Justin Harbor (25:55.5) and 96th-place finish for Nick Maedel (26:38.9) concluded the men's team's scoring.

"The seniors were seniors today," Braman said with a laugh. "We knew we would be OK this year if the seniors ran well and they did that today. Leeder was the catalyst for us today and I know it was a good thing for the guys to see the team captain out front like that.

"The future is bright and it is nice to team up with the ladies and sweep the championships."

On the women's side, head coach Karen Harvey's squad continued their dominance of the ACC by having two runners finish in the top five, four in the top 15 and six in the top 20.

"We challenged the team with a John Wooden quote this morning," Harvey said after the race. "Coach Wooden said, 'Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character.' The ladies certainly did that by showing a lot of character out there."

Senior Pasca Cheruiyot continued her terrific final season by posting a time of 20:05.4 in her second-place finish. FSU's other senior captain, Pilar McShine then crossed the finish line at the 20:25.9 mark for a fifth-place finish.

Junior Astrid Leutert had her best performance as a Seminole in her 12th-place finish. Leutert registered a time of 20:44.2 and sophomore Jessica Parry wasn't far behind with a time of 20:52.2 and a 15th-place race completion.

Another Seminole sophomore, Amanda Winslow was not too far off that pace as she achieved an 18th-place finish on a time of 20:56.4. Jennifer Dunn's 21:03.3 mark propelled her to a 20th-place finish in the 6k event.

"Pasca fought really hard out there and Pilar had her best race of the season," Harvey said. "Astrid did a great job of stepping up when Amanda got a cramp and was slowed down."

Hannah Brooks (35th, 21:26.9), Andi Palen (42nd, 21:43.7) and Emily Ness (62nd, 22:17.9) rounded out the women's team's scoring.

MEN 8K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
   3   Matt Leeder                    3   23:42.2 
   4   Ciaran O'Lionaird              4   23:43.6 
  11   Jakub Zivec                   11   24:07.6 
  12   David Forrester               12   24:07.9 
  13   Wes Rickman                   13   24:09.5 
  16   Alex Smyth                    16   24:12.9 
  22   Mike Fout                     22   24:23.0 
  33   Seth Proctor                 xxx   24:49.7 
  75   Justin Harbor                xxx   25:55.5 
  96   Nicholas Maedel              xxx   26:38.9 

NCAA South Regional, 2nd place
11/13/2010, Birmingham, Ala.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

Women Take 1st At Regionals.

FSU women's cross country team captures the regional crown while the men finish second behind Ciaran O'Lionaird's performance.

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Another week, another dominating performance by both of Florida State's cross country teams.

After running away with two conference championships, the Seminoles traveled to Birmingham, Ala. and had nearly the same success. The women's squad captured the regional title while the men's team came in second behind a first-place finish by Ciaran O'Lionaird.

Head coach Karen Harvey's women's team has been dominant all year long and Saturday's win propels them into Nationals on Nov. 22. The women saw their top seven runners all finish in the top 20 with senior Pasca Cheruiyot leading the way with a second-place finish (19:55.21).

Cheruiyot's great time was also good enough to be a new personal record.

Not far off her pace were a host of Cheruiyot's teammates. Fellow senior team captain Pilar McShine also ran a sub 20-minute race with a third-place finish (19:56.39). That, too, was a personal record.

In fourth place, sophomore Jessica Parry continued the personal-record trend with a time of 19:56.28.

Junior Jennifer Dunn then crossed the line in ninth (20:18.51 – a personal record) and in 10th was senior Hannah Brooks (20:24.47).

Sophomore Amanda Winslow then finished in 15th place with a mark of 20:33.30. Senior Astrid Leutert's 20:41.24 clip was enough for 19th place.

"The course is beautiful and the crowd is fantastic and there were a lot of people in the race," Harvey said. "So I'm glad we came out and were, knock on wood, injury-free. You know, it's like running a heat in track. It's not something you like to do. We weren't exactly looking forward to this but every team in the country has got to qualify, no matter what you are ranked. So honestly, we are going home. Glad it's over with and glad we ran well, but we ran in racing flats. Honestly, we are leaving a lot for nationals because we are going to need everything we've got.

"We are glad to get out of here with a win. It's a great day to be a Seminole."

On the men's side, O'Lionaird's personal-record time of 30:03.34 in the 10k event helped put FSU in position to finish second.

He was then followed by junior Mike Fout, who finished 10th with a personal-record 30:26.68. Three other Seminoles then finished in order from 15th to 17th: senior Matt Leeder (30:41.49), senior Alex Smyth (30:41.66) and sophomore Wes Rickman (30:41.80), respectively.

Smyth and Rickman both set personal records with those marks and sophomore Seth Proctor came in 25th win a 30:57.42 clip.

"We did what we came to do," men's coach Bob Braman said. "We qualified and ran really well so it was a great thing. It was good to see all of our guys go out there and run well and stay injury free. It really opened up for Ciaran and he kicked it in to get the win. We held Dave Forrester and Jakub Zivec out so all six of our guys were All-Region and that's saying something.

"For Ciaran and Mike to crack the top 10 was a good thing to see."

Florida State will now use the next nine days to recover and get prepared for Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 22.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Team Scores                                                                                                                                                                                             
======================================================                                                                                                                                                  
Rank Team              Total  1  2   3   4   5  *6  *7                                                                                                                                                  
======================================================                                                                                                                                                  
 1   Alabama              30  2  3   5   8  12  65 105                                                                                                                                                  
 2   Florida State        55  1  9  14  15  16  24                                                                                                                                                      
 3   Florida              76  4 11  18  20  23  25  35                                                                                                                                                  
 4   Tennessee           150 10 22  30  37  51  54  56                                                                                                                                                  
 5   Georgia             157 26 28  33  34  36  42  50                                                                                                                                                  
 6   Chattanooga         193  7 19  39  53  75                                                                                                                                                          
 7   Ole Miss            219  6 17  32  78  86  90                                                                                                                                                      
 8   Belmont             236 31 38  49  58  60                                                                                                                                                          
 9   Kennesaw State      244 13 29  59  64  79  92                                                                                                                                                      
10   Mississippi State   277 21 55  62  69  70  74 102                                                                                                                                                  
11   North Florida       287 40 43  61  63  80  89  97                                                                                                                                                  
12   South Florida       341 41 46  76  84  94 110                                                                                                                                                      
13   Lipscomb            342 44 47  57  96  98 106                                                                                                                                                      
14   Vanderbilt          364 66 67  73  77  81  82  93                                                                                                                                                  
15   Mississippi Valley  373 27 48  91  99 108 111                                                                                                                                                      
16   Mercer              375 52 68  72  83 100 113 114                                                                                                                                                  
17   Miami               413 45 85  87  95 101 107                                                                                                                                                      
18   Tennessee Tech      475 71 88 103 104 109 112                                                                                                                                                      
MEN 10K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
   1   Ciaran O'Lionaird              1   30:03.34
  10   Mike Fout                      9   30:26.68
  15   Matt Leeder                   14   30:41.49
  16   Alex Smyth                    15   30:41.66
  17   Wes Rickman                   16   30:41.80
  25   Seth Proctor                  24   30:57.42

NCAA Championship, 2nd place
11/22/2010, Terre Haute, Ind.

From the FSU Website, seminoles.com.

A Podium 2-fer.

Cross country teams bring home a pair of seconds at nationals.

By Bob Thomas Seminoles.com

TERRE HAUTE, IN - It must have been a Seminole Wind that swept across the LaVern Gibson Championships Cross Country Course Monday, because the Florida State men's and women's teams were clearly in their element.

The Seminoles are returning from the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships with a pair of national runner-up trophies.

On a day when coach Karen Harvey's women nearly made a magical championship run, Bob Braman's men set a new standard with the program's best finish in history.

From an incredibly deep field, the FSU women came within 34 points of denying Villanova a successful national championship defense. Seniors Pilar McShine (ninth, 20:25) and Pasca Cheruiyot (17th, 20:31) led the charge for the Seminoles, who posted their fourth consecutive podium finish. In a repeat of last season's finishing order, Villanova nudged past FSU 120-154 to reclaim the title.

Sophomore Jessica Parry (22nd, 20:39) earned All-American honors, along with McShine and Cheruiyot. Junior Jennifer Dunn missed making it four All-Americans, finishing 41st (20:54), just .10 from the line of distinction. It was her second consecutive near-miss, despite a gutty effort through a stiff finishing head-wind over the 6-kilometer course.

"You want to come and have good showing and I think we did," said Harvey. "We almost had that magical day I was looking for."

Braman's team captured some magic over the 10-kilometer course. The FSU men came into the meet eyeing a top 10 finish and shocked the field with a tightly-packed top five, led by senior Ciaran O'Lionaird (18th, 30:14) and junior Michael Fout (28th, 30:21). Only 42 seconds separated the top five Seminoles, who shattered the program's previous best finish of eighth, set back in 1981.

FSU finished with 193 points - well behind champion Oklahoma State - but in front of perennial powers Wisconsin (223), Stanford (237), Oklahoma (281), Oregon (289) and Indiana (298).

The Seminoles were in third place at the midway point in the race; a pleasant surprise, considering Braman had asked his team to take a somewhat conservative approach in the early stages of the 6.2 race. But just before he sent his team to the starting line, he challenged them as well:

"Don't be afraid to chase the podium the second half of the race," he said.

FSU's men heeded the call and authored an improbable finish, with David Forrester (53rd, 30:14), Wes Rickman (59th, 30:41) and Alex Smyth (76th, 30:56) rounding out the scorers.

"What they did was just incredible," Braman said of his 11th-ranked team. "We thought on a perfect day we could get fourth, and even then we knew we had to just hit it right. To get that far off the charts - that's the first time that's happened in my career. To me that is right up there with winning a (track & field) national championship; it's that much gratifying as a coach."

MEN 10K RACE
Place  Name                       Points   Time
=====  =========================  ======  ========
  18   Ciaran O'Lionaird             15   30:14.0 
  28   Mike Fout                     24   30:20.9 
  53   David Forrester               42   30:38.4 
  69   Wes Rickman                   48   30:40.8 
  76   Alex Smyth                    64   30:55.7 
 118   Jakub Zivec                   98   31:20.3