Nov. 16, 2004

Charleston, SC - The Citadel men's cross county team completed the 2004 season with senior Nick Gastley representing the squad in the NCAA Southeast Regional held at East Carolina University. Gastley finished the 10K race in a time of 34:39.

The cross country season got off to an ominous start as the Bulldogs lost senior runner Marc Quesenberry to injury before the season even got underway. The first three meets went well with sophomore Will Wilson leading the Bulldogs to a second place finish with a time of 16:16 in a 5K race at the College of Charleston meet held at the Dixie Plantation.

"Will improved his time by 53 seconds over his freshman year as we placed two runners in the top five," said head cross country coach Jody Huddleston.

The following week the Bulldogs traveled with Furman's team to Annapolis, MD to compete in the Navy Invitational. The Citadel took seventh place in the race with Gastley leading the Bulldogs with an 8K time of 26:35. "The trip went well till the morning of the race when we woke up to the remnants of hurricane Gaston and ran in heavy rain and wind," commented Huddleston. "However, our times were better than when we ran there two years ago as Nick Gastley finished 23rd and ran one minute and ten seconds faster this year on a very challenging course."

At the Citadel Invitational, the Bulldogs showed continued improvement as the squad finished second out of seven Division I colleges. The Bulldogs also placed three runners in the top eight. Gastley, Wilson and sophomore Matt Holmes each ran under 27 minutes for the 8K race.

"It has been a few years since we have had at least three runners under 27:00 in the same race," remarked Huddleston. "With a freshman Ray Giustizia running 27:07, things were looking very bright. A few days later, number three runner Matt Holmes was injured and missed the rest of the season. That injury seemed to take the wind out of our sails as we ran okay in the next two meets. We just did not have enough depth and did not run as well at the conference meet as we had hoped."

The Bulldogs will open up the indoor track and field season on Friday, December 3 at the Clemson Invitational at 12 pm.