Pioneers end season with solid race at NCAA DIII Regionals
Spears leads men with 116th place finish, while Klodowski takes 106th in women's race

Nov. 12, 2005
MASON, Ohio – It was uncharted territory for almost the entire team traveling to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship. Only one of the athletes had met head coach Derek Stanley’s criteria for participating in the championship in 2004, but this year Marietta brought a much stronger contingent marking their improved team from a year ago. 

"I set up the criteria to motivate the women and men, to help them realize this meet is used to qualify to the national championship and should not be taken lightly," said Coach Stanley. "Our main focus will always be the conference championship but I expect to have a team that can be competitive in this meet." 

The criteria Stanley establishes allows for team qualification as well as individual qualification. Both types were used this year as the men’s team qualified and one female individual earned the right to represent the institution at the meet. 

Emily Klodowski ran in her last race as a collegiate cross country runner and finished it off with her career-best performance. Klodowski came out strong in the first mile and held on well throughout the race to finish in 106th place out of 222 total women competing. Her time of 23:58.1 is the fastest 6k cross country time ever run by a woman at Marietta College and clearly solidifies her as the best runner to compete for the Marietta women’s cross country team since the reinstatement of the program in 2002. Klodowski was the 28th finisher from the conference, an improvement from her 36th place finish in the conference championship just two weeks before.

"It was bitter sweet to see her finish on such a good performance as I am so proud but also disappointed that she will not be part of the team next year," added Coach Stanley. 

Clark Spears, the only runner for Marietta College at last year’s championship, again took the reigns for the men’s team in his final college cross country race leading the team to a 28th place finish in the meet. Spears ran to a season best time of 27:25.9 to earn 116th place in the competition. Next in for the Pioneers was Harrison Potter who finished 136th place in a time of 27:42.5. Third for the team in a personal-best time was Kyle Hummel who did well filling the gap left by John Hull, who was out due to injury. Hummel used a great effort to finish 173rd overall, covering the 8,000m course in 28:42.7. Also finishing in the top five was Andrew Wichie, who had is career-best performance running to a 181st place finish in 28:54.8.  Ben Williams rounded out the top five earning 209th place in 30:19.9. Finishing the scoring for the Pioneers was Joseph Wynes (212th, 30:49.9) and Lyle Sulfridge (217th, 31:36.8). 

"I am glad to see the men finish the season on a high note especially Clark and Lyle who will be the first four-year runners to graduate the program since the reinstatement," said Coach Stanley of the race. "We were banged up team today but the team has improved well and we have so much more to accomplish, it serves as great motivation for next year!"