University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Brooks Paul Short Run
UT's Spooner 20th At Brooks Paul Short Run
October 01, 2010 | Cross Country
Oct. 1, 2010
Brooks Paul Short Run - Men's Gold Race Results 
By Eric Trainer, Associate Director of Media Relations
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- University of Tennessee senior Michael Spooner, undeterred by the mud and muck left in the wake of eight inches of rainfall in the Lehigh Valley, turned in a 20th-place finish out of 387 runners Friday in the Gold division race at the Brooks Paul Short Run.
The two-time All-SEC performer, who paced the Vols for the second straight meet and the eighth time in his past 10 starts, covered the soggy 8,000-meter layout at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus Course in 24 minutes, 24 seconds. That mark ranks 10th among all SEC performers this season at that distance, despite conditions that slowed times on the course by as much as 30 seconds.
"Mike Spooner ran another solid race," UT Men's Cross Country Coach George Watts said. "He led our team similar to his first race two weekends ago at the Commodore Classic, but we failed to reach our goal of a 35-second spread between our first and fifth man. We need to improve that as well as how we approach races with a large field."
Tennessee, which has had spreads of 38 and 35 seconds between its first and fifth runners in the first two races this season, saw that gap widen to one minute, five seconds this time around. The result was a 13th-place finish for the Big Orange in the 42-team Gold division field. No. 22 Virginia captured the team title with 132 points, followed by No. 24 Georgetown (149), No. 28 William & Mary (170), Dartmouth (179) and Guelph University of Canada (206) rounding out the top five.
In addition to Spooner, UT's other scoring runners included junior Chris Bodary in 61st place (25:00), senior Chris Rapp in 81st (25:06), senior Steve Fassino in 130th (127th scorer) at 25:22 and freshman Jake Rainey in 152nd (147th) in 25:29.
Running for the Big Orange but not counting toward the final team tally were junior Tom Gilmartin in 171st (165th) at 25:36, redshirt freshman Daniel Tobin in 205th (193rd) at 25:54 and senior David Clabo in 277th at 26:21.
"We performed below our expectations today," Watts said. "I felt like if we had a similar performance to what we did at our last meet, we could have been in the top five or six in this race. The course conditions may have played a factor in how a couple of the guys ran. Certainly, some guys are better on muddy courses than others, and perhaps a couple of them struggled because of that."
The Vols return to action in two weeks, as they travel to the ISU Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 16. The 8K race will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, site of the 2010 NCAA Championships.
MEN'S TEAM RESULTS: 1. Virginia 132, 2. Georgetown 149, 3. William & Mary 170, 4. Dartmouth 179, 5. Guelph (Canada) 206, 6. Richmond 224, 7. Columbia 227, 8. Liberty 308, 9. Cornell 321, 10. Binghamton 335, 11. Navy 356, 12. Lock Haven 413, 13. Tennessee 436, 14. High Point 461, 15. Penn 464, 16. New Mexico State 485, 17. LaSalle 486, 18. Appalachian State 510, 19. Duquesne 542, 20. Maryland 559, 21. Allegheny 615, 22. St. Lawrence 619, 23. Brown 640, 24. Haverford 655, 25. Kent State 677, 25. Marist 677, 27. Delaware 709, 28. Stonehill 758, 29. Iona 765, 30. Massachusetts 800, 31. St. Joseph's 801, 32. Lehigh 802, 33. Army 846, 34. Temple 886, 35. Maryland-Baltimore County 920, 36. Virginia Commonwealth 966, 37. SUNY Plattsburgh 1,048, 38. Rochester 1,053, 39. Stony Brook 1,063, 40. Bucknell 1,071, 41. Pittsburgh 1,078, 42. Rider 1,081.
VOL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: 20. Michael Spooner 24:24, 61. Chris Bodary 25:00, 81. Chris Rapp 25:06, 130. (127.) Steve Fassino 25:22!, 152. (147.) Jake Rainey 25:29!, 171. (165.) Tom Gilmartin 25:36, 205. (193.) Daniel Tobin 25:54!, 277. David Clabo 26:21.
