The Carolina Journal, September 27, 1967 Page 8
49’ers Outrun Saints
Notes From
The Sidelines
By John Lafferty
1 have often heard the comment that cross
country is a stupid sport, it that your work and
work, for weeks, in order to run in a large
circle, ranging from 2.2 to six or seven miles,
for a period of from eleven minutes to around
fourty. This consists of the entire athletic
contest.
To make matters worse, much of the time is
spent out in some patch of woods, or deep in
a hidden corner of a campus, where the only
spectators are couples who really don’t want to
see you anyway.
1 must agree. Anyone who runs cross country
must be a nut. In six years, I have never met
anyone who actually enjoyed running. What they
enjoy is the day after a meet, at which time
they were serenly basking in any glory they
may have earned, or reflecting in displeasure.
In either case they were soon ready to try
again.
For the spectator, only a knowledge of what is
really going on can make standing around on a
windy track waiting for the meet to finish,
be somewhat enjoyable.
Thus, the purpose of this column will be to
give a basic lesson in the art of cross country
watching. It is directed towards those people
who will find themselves inadvertantly in the
midst of one of the meets scheduled on campus
on October 19 and 23.
First, find out how in the world the meet will
be scored, so you will be able to figure out
who wins.
In a cross country meet, seven people run
from each team. Of these seven, the first five
to finish count on the actual scoring. Each of
these first five finishers is given the number
of points of the place in which he finishes.
For example, one point for the first, ten for
tenth, and so on. The other two runners act
as spacers for the team, their primary func
tion being to push one of the opponents scor
ers back on place.
When everyone has finished, the points of
each man are added up, and the team with the
lowest score is determined the winner, much
as in golf.
In cross country jargen, a perfect score is
15 to 50. This is a situation in which your team
places first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth,
and seventh, allowing the opppsing team only
eigth through fourteenth places. By adding the
place of the first five finishers on each team,
one derives the previously mentioned score.
By this scoring method, it is quite likely that
a person would finish first, and his team still
loose the me^ ',, because team grouping is equally
important as a single standout. Thus, in a
sport which traditionally pits individuals, a good
team showing is essential.
Lesson two, now that the reader is throughly
aware of the fine mechanics of the sport.
Find out where the course on which the meet
you are watching goes. It is relatively impossible
to find five miles or so of space to put a course
without doubling back somewhere, and often one
can find a point at which the race will cross
several times. Now you can watch, and compare
the progress of the several participants.
Besides this, there is not much else you can
do. Except cheer. This will push your own team,
as well as demoralize the opponents. So come
on out and support the cross country team.
We have two meets on campus, and one at
Davidson. And a little shouting sure sounds
good after a couple of miles.
BY FRANK SASSER
UNC-C defeated St. Andrews
College 22-36 in a cross country
meet on their campus on Friday,
September 22.
St. Andrews only ran five offi
cial runners to UNC-C’s seven
official and three unofficial run
ners. St. Andrews was not at
a severe disadvantage, however,
since only the top five runners on
each team can score. Marty Flem
ing, John Lafferty, Ron Lynch,
Woody Frick, Larry McAfee, Mide
Ridge, and Pete Donahue ran offi
cially for UNC-C. Bill Lynch,
Eddie Frias, and Ed Echeverrias
ran unofficially.
Since the course was unfamiliar
to the UNC-C team, they were
taken in a van across the course.
On a deserted path the van got
stuck in some thick white sand
and guess whose team had to push
the truck for two hundred feet?
The five mile and twenty yard
course began with two laps around
the track followed bya trip through
fields and woods and ended with
another lap around the track.
After the startingpositions were
determined the group lunged for
ward at the sound of a whistle.
Fleming, Lafferty, and McAfee
led the pack at the end of the first
lap. Fleming also led the group
into and out of the fields and “ sand
traps.”
While the boys were out running
hard and winning the meet for us
St. Andrews spectators made com
ment about the high wind and sug
gested carrying off UNC-C’s
sweatsuits to the pawn shop.
One of the St. Andrews runners
took a brief swim in the lake during
the jaunt across country. We’re
not sure whether he was trying
to cool off or if he actually fell
into the water. Maybe one of the
49ers told him to gojumpinalake.
Coming out of the woods Fleming
was closely following Kraly of St.
Andrews. On the first curve Flem
ing passed Kraly with seemingly
little effort and beat him bya quar-
Attention
Wrestling
Candidate
There will be a meeting for
all persons interested in
becoming a 49er wrestler
FRID.Ay, OCTOBER 6th.
ROOM 203, ENGINEERING
BLDG.
5:00 PM — 6:00 PM
-Vll prospective wrestlers
should be in attendance’
Marty Fleming
ter of a minute to give him the new
record on a five mile course with
a time of 30:49.9. In the last curve
Lafferty pushed past an opponent
to give himself third place. Next
UNC-C made a clean sweep with
Ron Lynch, Woody Frick, Larry
McAfee, and Mike Ridge breezing
in with little competition. UNC-C
captured a first, third, fifth, sixth.
and seventh place to give us a total
of 22 points. St. Andrews obtained
second, fourth, ninth, tenth, and
eleventh places, giving them 36
points.
This was the first time St. An
drews has been beaten in cross
country by UNC-C and our boys
deserve credit for a job well done.
Top Eleven Finishers
1. UNC-C
Fleming
30:49.9*
2. SA
Kraly
31:04.8*
3. UNC-C
Lafferty
31:48
4. SA
Walker
31:52.2*
5. UNC-C
Lynch
32:30
6. UNC-C
Frick
32:48
7. UNC-C
McAfee
33:01
8. UNC-C
Ridge
33:40
9. SA
Rothwell
34.15
10.SA
Nichol
36:18
11.SA
DuRant
36:26
J
*official time
Boston Blans Ahead
Just what does Mr. Bostion plan
to do with the intramural program
at UNC-C? This was basically the
question as posed to him.
First, the teams are being set
up by campus clubs, such as Ro-
taract. Circle K, and APO. Also,
each class will field a team. This
will give the program a compe
titive basis.
October 2 is the day to look for.
Ga.nes will begin that afternoon in
football. However, the first week
will be played in order to farnil-
arize everyone with the rules and
procedures. Actual league play will
begin on October 9.
Games will be played on Monday
through Thursday afternoons,
with two games an afternoon one
to begin at 4 or 4:30 and the second
an hour later.
It appears that Mr. Bostian is
doing a great deal with the Inter
murals. It is now up to the students
to follow suit.
J
Intramurals
Need
Frosh
IHy Neighliors
Since the freshman class has no
officers as of now, anyone inter
ested in organizing an intramural
team or teams within the Fresh
man class should contact Coach
Larry Bostian at his office in the
Engineering Building (E 208) or
call extension 294. This should be
done as soon as possible, help
fully no later than September 28.