Clemson Competes at Southeast Region Meet

November 14, 1998

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Southeast Region (District III) Cross Country Meet Saturday at Furman. The men’s team took fifth place with 148 points. James Madison and N.C. State, both ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams, took first and second place, respectively, to qualify for the national meet.

Six of the seven Tiger runners ran a personal-best during the meet. Clemson senior Joe Gibson qualified automatically for the national meet, placing seventh in the 10K race with a time of 30:21 to earn all-region honors. Senior Esteban Diaz also earned all-Southeast Region honors, taking 18th place with a time of 30:48.

Freshman Jason Meany placed 40th with a time of 31:25, and freshman B.J. Dillard was 44th (31:29). Junior Steve Alexander took 48th place with a time of 31:33, and freshman Ryan Demers was 52nd (31:37). Senior Matt Tooman rounded out the Clemson runners, placing 65th with a time of 31:58.

Gibson’s time was the 10th-best time run by a Clemson athlete on the course, and Diaz’s time placed 16th on the Tiger all-time list. Meany ran the fifth- best time by a Clemson freshman on the course, and Dillard’s time was the seventh-best by a Tiger rookie.

“I’m delighted with what we did as a team,” said head coach Bob Pollock. “I feel like we performed extremely well and I’m very excited for Joe Gibson. He missed nationals last year by one place and has worked extremely hard all season to get to this point. The team as a whole had a good size improvements from last year’s region race.”