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October 20, 2007 Nampa, ID – John Riak brought home Saint Martin’s cross country’s first Conference Championship and earned GNAC cross country Athlete-of-the-Year on Saturday at the seventh annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships at West Park in Nampa, Idaho. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished eighth overall. Several runners took turns sharing the lead before Riak took command in the final 2,000-meter lap to win his first conference cross country title in a time of 24:56.77. It was Riak’s 11th career victory extending his GNAC record. “It was good for John; he deserved the win, he has always worked hard,” said head coach Julie Sullivan. “He ran a really good race. As usual we had a plan going into it. Just before the race started, the wind picked up. There are some really long straight-aways on the course and we talked about that and when John was going to make his move. We knew it would be a little different tactically. During the race I made him sit and sit until he couldn’t sit any longer and on his last lap he just took off. He looked as though he was just starting the race. Everything was set up and everything went as planned which is always nice.” “Both teams ran pretty solid. It was a really hard day but everybody ran tough. We had a lot of hurt bodies out there and never once a look of giving up,” said Sullivan. On the men’s side Tris Obluck finished 34th with a time of 26:57. Josh Gatbunton finished right behind him in 35th at 26:59.28. Placing 54th was Steven La Londe who ran a time of 27:44.48. Freshman Nick Harvey posted a time of 28:05.10 to finish 63rd while Kevin Tober, in the final race of his collegiate career, was 80th at 32:53.91. “Josh had a great race. There was some who weren’t pleased with their performance, thinking they could have run better but I know they were hurting and they ran their hardest never giving up,” added Sullivan. Annie Laweryson posted the highest finish for the women with a time of 23:12.71 putting her in 19th. Jessie Dunnam finished 27th with a time of 23:34.65. Coming in 36th was Helen Camden at 23:57.90 while Krinda Carlson, coming off injury, ran a time of 24:16.10 to place 42nd. Kaleigh Bishop finished the meet in 76th place posting a time of 25:53.56. Karissa Owen and Ninalynn Benitez were 80th and 81st with times of 26:22.44 and 26:27.11 respectively. “Annie ran out of her skin today. To finish 19th as a freshman is great. Jessie ran solidly and Krinda battled hard coming off being injured,” said Sullivan. “Some of them were nervous going in but they came out and got the job done.” The Saints will continue their season on November 3 as they take five men and six women to the NCAA West Regional Meet also being held in Nampa, ID.
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