Cross country trio concludes season at regionals
Jen Semler
Issue date: 11/18/09 Section: Sports
Fr. Chris Swisko, So. Dylan Bernard, and Sr. Kyle Ryan competed for Mount St. Mary's in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional hosted by the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. The meet was held on this Saturday, November 14. The men had the opportunity to compete against some of the toughest schools in the nation.
"It's very intimidating to get on the line with teams like Georgetown and Villanova who are nationally renowned for being incredible cross country teams," says Bernard. "At the same time, I feel blessed to be able to say that I've been able to race at such a high caliber of competition in my life."
The course was two kilometers longer than the usual eight kilometers that the men are used to running. Bernard typically excels at the longer distances, so he led the Mount runners by finishing 119th out of 196 runners.
"A 10k race, even though its only 2k (a little under a mile and a half) longer than the usual 8k is never easy on the body," says Bernard. "Luckily for me, I tend to perform better over longer distances so this did not have any major detrimental effect on my race. The hard part was the incredibly slippery mud that covered every inch of the course and the puddles that went as high as my knees at some points. But, unless you're a cross country athlete, it's hard to understand why that made this race one of the most fun races of my life."
Bernard was the third finisher out of all of the NEC runners participating in the meet. He finished just ahead of Chris Mills from Saint Francis (Pa.), who is the previous track champion in the ten kilometer and five kilometer.
Bernard was followed by Ryan and Swisko, who finished 153rd and 172nd respectively. "This was Chris' first 10k and I was pleased with his effort. The experience will help him in the future," said Assistant Coach Larry O'Hara.
"It's very intimidating to get on the line with teams like Georgetown and Villanova who are nationally renowned for being incredible cross country teams," says Bernard. "At the same time, I feel blessed to be able to say that I've been able to race at such a high caliber of competition in my life."
The course was two kilometers longer than the usual eight kilometers that the men are used to running. Bernard typically excels at the longer distances, so he led the Mount runners by finishing 119th out of 196 runners.
"A 10k race, even though its only 2k (a little under a mile and a half) longer than the usual 8k is never easy on the body," says Bernard. "Luckily for me, I tend to perform better over longer distances so this did not have any major detrimental effect on my race. The hard part was the incredibly slippery mud that covered every inch of the course and the puddles that went as high as my knees at some points. But, unless you're a cross country athlete, it's hard to understand why that made this race one of the most fun races of my life."
Bernard was the third finisher out of all of the NEC runners participating in the meet. He finished just ahead of Chris Mills from Saint Francis (Pa.), who is the previous track champion in the ten kilometer and five kilometer.
Bernard was followed by Ryan and Swisko, who finished 153rd and 172nd respectively. "This was Chris' first 10k and I was pleased with his effort. The experience will help him in the future," said Assistant Coach Larry O'Hara.
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