Mary Pfeifer Qualifies For Nationals To Lead Tigers

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Women's cross country became the fifth Wittenberg fall sports team to earn representation in the NCAA postseason when sophomore Mary Pfeifer (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) placed 11th in the Great Lakes Regional Meet at Rose-Hulman. The women's team finish of 7th of 34 is the team's best finish in its 21-year history. The men turned in a 25th-place finish out of 36 teams.

Pfeifer will be just the second women's cross country runner in school history to wear the red & white at the national meet, and the first since Abi Gerstle ran in the championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Pfeifer's performance was the only one to qualify for the national meet hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College on Saturday, Nov. 18, but she was not the only runner to turn in an impressive result. The Tigers saw another two runners finish in the top 30. Sophomore Darcy Dubuc (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) and sophomore Anna Henry (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) finished 26th and 27th, respectively.

Freshman Biz Goodbarn (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Highlands Ranch) and freshman Amy Stamon (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) earned 71st- and 90th-place finishes to round out the women's runners in the top 100.

Junior Kevin Frick (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) paced the men with an impressive finish at 33rd, but was the Tiger men's only top 100 runner.

Pfeifer will compete on Saturday in the national meet at Baldwin Wallace, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at Highland Hills Golf Course in Beachwood, Ohio.