Senior Brian Deal led the way for the Mountaineers, grabbing a 29th place finish at the regional meet. (Photo Courtesy of Ginny Deal) Game statistics

Men's Cross Country Grabs Tenth Place Finish at Regionals
by Appalachian Sports Information

November 12 - LOUISVILLE, KY.- The Appalachian men’s cross country team capped off its very successful 2007 season by taking home a tenth place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet. The men finished four spots ahead of where they placed last season. North Carolina State notched its second straight regional championship, with Louisville grabbing the runner-up spot. Both teams earn the automatic bid to NCAA Nationals.

Leading the way for Appalachian once again was senior Brian Deal. Deal placed 29th overall with a time of 30:59.90. Coming in ten spots behind Deal was teammate Asmeron Desta who earned 39th place with a time of 31:14.15. Other contributors for the Mountaineers were sophomore Phil Mitchell who finished 68th, senior Ryan O’Keefe with a 70th place finish and rounding things out were Blair Teal , Alec Meyer and Mark Maddox all finishing 78th, 85th and 112th respectively, out of a field of 202 runners.

Appalachian finished as team with 284 total points, good enough to earn them the tenth place finish. The Mountaineers fell just short of in-state foe Wake Forest, who was ninth with 282 points. ASU did beat all other Southern Conference teams competing in the race.

Head Coach Mike Curcio and the Apps finish another strong season in the Black and Gold. A season in which they won their third straight Southern Conference title, Curcio garnered SoCon Coach of the Year honors and the Apps had the Southern Conference Runner of the Year for just the third time in school history. Appalachian has a rather young squad and loses three seniors in BrianDeal, Blair Teal and Mark Maddox.