Oct. 27, 2007

Summit League Championship Results
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Macomb, IL-In an incredibly tight race, the Women's Cross Country team captured IPFW's first conference championship as a member of the Summit League.  The `Dons tied Southern Utah University with 67 points to go home as Co-Summit League Champions.  South Dakota State placed third with 68 points, while preseason favorite Oral Roberts University finished in fourth place with 118 points.

The Mastodons were led by First Team All-Summit League selections Crystina and Crystal Martinez.  Crystina placed fourth individually at 21:49, while Crystal filled the six-spot with a time of 22:04.  IPFW's other scorers were Sussy Odipo (22:55/16^th), Valerie Hardesty (23:08/18^th), and Ashley Porter (23:15/23^rd).

After the race, IPFW Coach Mike Fruchey was named the Summit League's Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year, as voted upon by Summit League coaches.

"It was an amazing race for the women," stated Coach Fruchey. "They ran the race of the year! We were picked sixth in the preseason poll so no one could have guessed that the girls would have run this strong."

Fruchey added, "It is a rare thing when all the runners feel great on the same day, but that's what happened today."

On the men's side, the `Dons placed ninth as a team.  Hunter Paris led the pack, earning Second Team All-Summit League honors.  Paris finished in twelfth place with a time of 25:54.  Garret Bradtmueller (27:44, 44^th), Russel Wilk (28:05, 54^th), Randall Quirk (28:19, 60^th), and Ben Townsend (28:56, 66^th) rounded out IPFW's top-five finishers.

Southern Utah University captured the men's title easily, defeating runner-up Oakland University by 42 points.