XCountry: Tech Starts Season Strong

North Manchester, Ind. – The Indiana Tech cross country teams enjoyed a successful start to their 2012 season at the Manchester University Hokum Karem on Saturday with each squad turning in solid performances.

The Warrior men got off to a great start earning a first place finish while the women came in second.

The event was run in a relay-style race for teams of two. In the race, each team member completed one mile before “tagging” their partner, who would run the next mile. The men ran four miles while the women ran three. The scoring was based on the top three results of the two-person teams.

On the men’s side, the Warriors were led by the team of junior Aaron Belcher (Mooresville, IN/Mooresville) and freshman Zack Johnson (Mishawaka, IN/Penn). The duo’s time of 39:30 was good enough for first place overall by 11 seconds.

Also scoring for the men were the teams of Aaron Kimbrell (Muncie, IN/Muncie Southside) and freshman Brenden Zoltek (Columbia City, IN/Columbia City) and freshmen Marcus Hobbs (Nineveh, IN/Indian Creek) and Drew Mueller (Florissant, MO/McCluer North). Kimbrell and Zoltek finished in third place in 39:48 while Hobbs and Mueller clocked in at 40:28 for sixth place.

The Warrior women also saw a pair land in first place. Junior Becca Lamb (Ridgeville, OH/North Ridgeville) and sophomore Cherie Gaines (Farmington Hills, MI/Farmington Hills North) topped the field by more than 30 seconds with a time of 35:42.

Also scoring for the women were the teams of junior Ashlee Satterfield (Marengo, IN/Crawford County) and sophomore Allycia Gaffer (Ft. Wayne, IN/Northrop), and junior Tabitha Vermillion (Marion, IN/Marion) and sophomore Aubree Reichel (Alexandria, VA/Wiesbaden). Satterfield and Gaffer came in sixth with a time of 39:26, followed by Vermillion and Reichel in seventh at 39:56.

The Warriors are off until Sept. 14 when they travel to Terre Haute, Indiana for the Indiana Intercollegiates.