The Nevada Sagebrush

Burke sets personal mark in first meet

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 12:42 AM

Nevada sophomore Jordan Burke finished second at the 4K Nevada Twilight Cross Country Classic with a time of 15:29. Photo by Brian Bolton.

A full moon illuminated Shadow Mountain Park in Sparks on Friday as the Wolf Pack cross country team participated in a collegiate rarity — a meet after dark.

Nevada hosted the Third Annual Jim Vanden Heuvel/Nevada Twilight Cross Country Classic, which went well past daylight hours.

“It is a unique format,” cross country head coach Kirk Elias said. “It’s only one of two of the collegiate meets in the country that’s run at night.”

The benefits of a night meet are vast. Elias said it is generally an exceptional experience for the athletes because the fresh, evening temperatures allow runners to avoid heat exhaustion and nausea.

Although runners enjoyed the crisp, night air, the Wolf Pack was not able to keep up with the University of California, Riverside or Stanford and took third place in the 4K race. Nevada sophomore Jordan Burke finished second overall with a personal record of 15:29 to help the Wolf Pack beat fourth-place Fresno State and last-place Shasta.

Burke produced a standout performance while running in the tight, lead pack of runners. Around the first bend of the course, Burke was holding steady in third place behind Roxanne Sellick of Fresno State and Christy Adamyk of UC Riverside. She then advanced to second during the last loop to crush her former personal record by more than a minute.

“I am really happy with my race and a little surprised too,” Burke said. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Burke’s personal gain was not quite enough to give Nevada victory, but Elias was content with the results.

“I am pretty comfortable with what happened,” he said. “We weren’t going to win this meet right now.”

Elias said going into the meet he realized Nevada faced a challenging meet with Stanford, a nationally ranked team, and UC Riverside, champions of the Big West Conference title last year. With big competitors and the Wolf Pack only returning three of its top seven runners, an easy meet was out of the question.

“We’re a brand new team in a lot of respects and so what I wanted from the kids, what I told them before their races, was that I wanted good effort, good focus and for them to come out of this experience learning,” he said.

With the season’s first meet over and the Western Athletic Conference Championships less than two months away, Nevada is hoping its young squad has a fast learning curve. Senior Natalia Jarawka, who finished 11th at the Twilight Cross County Classic with 16:15, said the young team should not be underestimated.

“I’m looking forward to see what the young girls can do because they really don’t know how good they are,” she said.

Elias now looks forward to the “three-week training block” before the Stanford Invitational at Palo Alto, Calif. on Sept. 26.

Kaitlyn Whiteside can be reached at sports@nevadasagebrush.com.