Waleed Alamleh
Sports Writer
The Moraine Valley Cross Country team sent three runners to Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, November 9 to compete in the NJCAA Division I Championships. The three members who earned the right to compete in New Mexico are Victoria Granz, Suhayb Froukh, and Grant Wright.
Granz is a sophomore running for her second year for the Moraine Valley Cyclones, and it is also her second time qualifying for the NJCAA National Championship meet. She had an extremely successful year, finishing ninth in the region and fourth overall in the conference, earning All-Region and All-Conference honors for the second straight year.
Froukh and Wright are also quite accomplished. Wright finished fifth in the regional competitions to qualify for the National Championships, and finished second in the conference. Froukh finished just behind Wright in each competition, coming in sixth in the regional championship and third place overall in the conference. All three officially qualified for the National Championship at the NJCAA Region IV Championship in Galesburg, Illinois two weeks ago on October 26.
The future is bright for the Cross Country teams at Moraine as both Froukh and Wright are freshman, and are a part of the All-Freshmen Men’s team that took second overall in the conference, an incredible feat for rookies running at the collegiate level.
The women are also a force to be reckoned with, as they won the Skyway Conference for the second straight year. Their success wouldn’t have been possible without a full team competing at their best this season as all six of the runners ran for personal records and bests. With the help of Madison Krisch, another freshman who also received All-Conference honors, the Moraine Women’s team will be looking to compete for a third straight conference championship next year.
The Cross Country teams are led by Head Coach Dimitri Dimizas and Assistant Head Coach Sarah McCann. Last week, there was a reception to recognize these three outstanding athletes to send them off for the NJCAA Division I Championship where family, coaches, and even the Athletic Trainer Geoff Davis and Athletic Director Bill Finn had words to say about the amazing job the three have done.
All three Moraine students struggled with the altitude in New Mexico. Changes in altitude can be especially hard on athletes who do not have ample time to acclimate to the higher levels or terrain. Granz ended her MVCC career by shaving a minute off of her time from last year. She placed 177 in a field of 290 women running the race.
On the men’s side, both Froukh and Wright ran as well as they could, also dealing with altitude issues. Froukh placed 216 and Wright at 249 out of a field of 343 runners. Both “gained valuable experience going into next season,” according to head Coach Dimitri Dimizas.
Waleed Alamleh can be contacted at alamlehw@student.morainevalley.edu
