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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Scotty Sports Corner
By Hollis Duncan
Cross Country Running Strong,
Field Hockey and Volleyball Regroup After Losses
Tappahannock, VA (October 16, 2000) - Cross Country: St. Margaret's School runners placed among the top 10 finishers in two back-to-back meets in less than four days, both on familiar soil in Essex County. The first, a home debut for the 2000 team, was with friends and family in the 5K Rappahannock River Run held Saturday, October 7.
Head Coach David Cook (middle, with hat) epitomizes the ethos behind this year's St. Margaret's cross country team. Every day, Cook jumps into practice alongside his students to boost morale and give support.
The homecoming meet provided Coach David Cook the opportunity to lace up his racing flats right next to his team on the starting line. Cook finished in 18:16, fourth overall behind Marshall Douglass (15:49) of Mathews. In addition to winning the SMS faculty award, Cook finished second in the 19-29 men's age division behind Douglass. Chris Cramer of Riverside-Tappahannock Wellness and Fitness Center, who coached the SMS runners earlier this fall while Cook was on leave, tied for fifth overall and placed third among men aged 19-29 with a time of 18:30.
SMS junior Kelly Proctor of Urbanna (21:37) finished behind women's winner Julia Smith of Tappahannock (18:37) and SMS senior Britton Faulkner of Irvington (19:45) to place second among females 18 and under. Other Scotty cross-country team members to finish were Alston Moore (24:35), Ann Melchionna (25:55), Robyn Ridderhoff (28:07), Graham Barlow (28:35), Amy Dunsire (28:51) and Virginia King (31:54).
"The girls had a great time and they all kept saying to me that it [racing] seemed more like fun than work, which is a good sign," Coach Cook commented.
The Scotties' next meet, at Essex High School, was scheduled just 48 hours in advance. After Cook received word that a mid-week meet with another school was cancelled, he and Essex cross country coach Lyn Amos agreed to Wednesday's event. "It was last minute," said Cook. "Coach Amos was gracious to host us, and we loved running with Essex, right here in our own backyard."
The outcome was decided by one point, which came down to a neck-and-neck sprint between SMS runner Graham Barlow and M. Edwards of Essex. With a last second acceleration just before the tape, Barlow edged out the Trojan runner to give her team the win, 27-28.
First overall was Kelly Proctor in 23:55. Alston Moore (26:13), Robyn Ridderhoff (30:08), Emily Chang (31:28) and Graham Barlow (32:37) all finished in the top 10. Virginia King also finished for SMS in 33:25.
Field Hockey: In a game that remained scoreless until it was nearly over, St. Margaret's varsity field hockey team (3-3-2 overall; 1-2 LIS) fell to the Covenant School on October 5 in Charlottesville.
"It was heartbreaking to lose 1-0 in the last three minutes of the game," said Head Coach Kate Coghlan. "We are excited to have such a long streak of away games over with and to finally return home."
At 1-2 with three remaining home games before the LIS tournament on November 1-3, the Scotties are looking forward to playing at Gilchrist Field once more. The Scotties' remaining home field hockey matches will be against Steward (10/19), Virginia Episcopal (10/20) and Covenant (10/23) at 4:15, 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., respectively.
Volleyball: Faced with setbacks, including injuries to veteran players Shannon Davis and Cathy Ryan, both of Tappahannock, St. Margaret's varsity volleyball team lost two of its last three home games. St. Catherine's swept the Scotties 3-0, winning the individual games 15-3, 15-7 and 15-11. Blessed-Sacrament Huguenot edged the Scotties in four, winning game 1 by a 15-2 score and games 3 and 4 , 15-11 and 16-14, respectively.
Despite the previous week's difficulties, St. Margaret's volleyball made a dramatic comeback last Thursday. Even without key hitters Davis and Ryan in the line up, SMS shut out St. Vincent's 3-0, winning individual games 15-8, 15-5 and 15-2. St. Margaret's record stands at 6-5 overall and 3-1 in the LIS.
