LC advances runners from Region 24 meet 

[OCT. 25, 2004]  Dana Griffin won the NJCAA Region 24 individual title at the cross country meet at Kickapoo Park in Lincoln Saturday morning with a time of 19:32 over the 5K course. As a result of her first-place finish, Griffin qualifies for the national tournament in El Paso, Texas.

"Dana and Anita Swift came out and ran with everything they had today," said Lincoln coach Erin Verbeck. "They were real heroes today. Unfortunately we didn't fare well enough as a team to advance to nationals, but we are a young squad and return five freshmen for next year."

Danville Area College won the women's meet with 26 points, five ahead of Lincoln College's 31 points. Anita Swift was fourth with a time of 21:04, followed by Jazzii Echols in eighth in 21:51. Emily Escobedo placed 14th and Tarra Bodnar was 15th.

Rend Lake won the men's division with a perfect score of 15, taking the top five places. Clint Wombles led the Lincoln College team with a ninth-place finish over the 8K course in 27:24. Mike Verre was 10th in 27:40, Craig Frederiksen 14th, Anthony Swift 19th, and Brian Ruder was 21st.

"Our goal all season has been to finish second in the regional behind Rend Lake," Verbeck said. "We accomplished that today and I couldn't be more proud. This is our highest place in school history and the first time a full cross country team has made it to the national meet.

"Anthony was the saving grace today, as this kid has been injured and stepped it up and ran a courageous race to finish fourth on our team. He and Brian came out and got us the second-place finish as a team. Hopefully we will have Dave Stouffer, our usual number four runner, back for the national tournament in November."

[Bill Martinie, Lincoln College]

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