Lieb among running elite at NCAAs

When asked about runner Dusty Lieb's chances at last Monday's 2002 NCAA Division-I Men's Cross Country Championships, head coach Charlie Powell replied, "He has a legitimate shot at top-50 which would be unbelievable for a sophomore."

Well, as has been the case lately with most runners on the team this year, Lieb exceeded all expectations.

He finished 26th overall last Monday with a time of 30:21.5, several hundredths of a second behind Texas Pan-American's Wesley Keating. The result earned him a spot on the All-American Team.

"I just didn't have enough to fight him down in the last 10 or so meters," Lieb said. "He outleaned me, which was disappointing, but, at that point, I was just happy to be where I was."

Despite Lieb's being caught at the end of the race, Penn's coaches were thrilled with the performance.

"He turned it on, had all the chips in the right order, and put on a breakthrough performance," assistant coach Steve Walsh said.

The top 30 American finishers at Indiana State's 10K course automatically qualified for the All-American squad.

"It's an amazing achievement," Powell said. "It places him in one of the top one-to-two percent of athletes in America."

Lieb and Dartmouth runner Tom McArdle were the only two members of the Ancient Eight to compete in the race which featured the nation's top-30 teams and top-225 individuals.

Both Ivy Leaguers were named All-Americans as McArdle finished 8th in 29:46.3.

Walsh believes that Lieb's achievement will help motivate the young cross country team in the future.

"When you're working with an All-American you feel like you need to deliver," he said.

Lieb's result marked a significant improvement from his 77th place finish at the Oct. 19 Pre-National meet against a similar field of runners.

"In the big scheme of things, nobody's going to look back at Pre-Nats and base your season on that," Lieb said. "So I'm glad that I showed up when I did instead of going big at Pre-Nats."

Without question he has been Penn's best harrier all year, winning the Fordham Ram Run, finishing seventh at District Championships, and coming in 12th at the Heptagonal Cross-Country Championships.

"He just kept getting better, better, and better all year and now this," Powell said.

With solid performances throughout the season, Lieb's coaches felt he was bound for a breakthrough run at nationals.

"He's been running on the cresp of this all year," Walsh said. "It was just a matter of tweaking a few things."

Lieb, who hails from Arnold, Md., had the sixth best time in the nation for a sophomore. However, two of the sophomores who finished ahead of him were redshirts, and, thus, a year older than him.

It is also the best finish by a Penn sophomore at the NCAA Championships since Dave Merrick did so in 1976.

"He is one of the top young American runners," Powell said. "He is the one of the better ones for his age that I've seen in a long time."

Lieb's time of 30:21.5 also places him 9th all-time on the Penn men's outdoor records list.

Last week's race also decided the NCAA national team championship, which went to Stanford for the first time since 1997.

Wisconsin came in second, Eastern Michigan took the bronze and Philadelphia's track powerhouse, Villanova, finished 12th overall.

In the women's field, Yale's Kate O'Neill finished second overall, the best ever finish for an Ivy League cross country runner. Her twin sister Laura took 13th in the race.

Coach Powell is confident that this weekend's result is only the beginning of great things to come from a Quakers squad that is composed mainly of freshmen and sophomores.

"It's all about long-term development," he said. "This could be the start of something really, really wonderful. We want to be able to compete with the best. We want to be an upper echelon team. I think we will be."

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