2001 Cross Country Teams Should Provide Good Depth

 

Senior Christel Hibbard, a two-time All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Confer-ence runner, and sophomore Darryl Brown, (pictured on the cover), will lead the 2001 East Stroudsburg cross country teams. Coach Joe Koch thinks his men's and women's teams both should have good depth and be improved over last season.

The 2001 team outlooks follow:

Men’s Team

The Warriors have had back-to-back strong recruiting years which Koch feels should result in a resurgence of the men's cross country program. Brown moved in as a freshman last year and became the team's top runner. He placed second in the Stony Brook Classic in his first meet and third in the Tidewater Classic at Salisbury State. The Kennett, Square Pa. runner was the team's top finisher in both the PSAC Championships and the NCAA Regionals.

Three other sophomores, Mike Loenser, Mike Browne and Jared Sparks were members of the team's top seven in most meets. Another sophomore, Keith Davis also showed potential last season. There are two other lettermen returning from the 2000 squad in seniors Mark Donio and Mike Webster. In addition, Koch has landed four promising freshmen, one from Pennsylvania, Harold Biechy, a PIAA state qualifier for nearby Pen Argyl High School, and three from New Jersey, Jim Gaffey from Freehold, Robert Lado from Ridgefield and Chris Reiner from Ringwood.

"We don't have a super star, but we have a number of talented runners who could form a good pack and make us competitive this season," said Koch. "If our runners work together and don't get spread out, we're ready to run against some of the better teams in the conference and improve on last year's ninth-place finish," the coach continued.

Women’s Team

The ESU women's team starts with one of the region's leading runners in Hibbard, a top-ten finisher in both the PSAC Championships and the NCAA Regionals last year.

Hibbard just missed qualifying for the nationals by placing eighth of 133 finishers in the regionals last season. She ran in the nationals as a sophomore. The talented runner from Springville, Pa. gained All-PSAC honors for the second time last year with a ninth-place finish in the conference meet. There are six other letter-winners returning and Koch is counting on most, if not all of them, being improved with the year of experience.

Back are three members of the usual top five in seniors Nicole Royer and Heather Bjorndahl and sophomore Erin Coyne. The other letter-winners are senior Nova Tindall, who missed most of last season because of an injury, junior Melissa Werner and sophomore Kelly Curry.

Koch feels he has a strong freshman class with at least five newcomers, all from Pennsylvania, having the potential to break into the lineup. They are Rita DeRiacho from Montrose High School, Krystal Klugh from Donegal, Steph Kutsop and Jessica Plawa from a strong North Penn program, and Angela Franco from Tunkhannock. "We have much better depth and we're way ahead of last year going into the season. It's realistic if we stay free of injuries that we can move back to the top four or five of the conference," said Koch. The Warriors placed third in the conference in 1999, but dropped to 10th last season.