NETT Women Cash in on Last Place Finish, Men Sprint to Faster Finish; Leave with Empty Pockets

It was another strong showing out on the XC trails of the Topsfield Cross Country Festival this year for NETT, with the women and men racing in extremely competitive fields. Here's Karyn Miller-Medzon's (Eminem)report:

"The women approached the 5k starting line this morning with the intrepid team of Karen Ringheiser, Adrienne Cyrulik, Liz Wagner, Tina Wang, Chrissy Durden, Deb Robertson, and Eminem (aka Karyn Miller-Medzon). The field was small (only 35 runners) but very fast. Merrimack Valley's Kara Haas won in speedy 18:40 and the top 10 women were all under 19:30.

Karen Ringheiser led the NETT team with a valiant 21:21 (19th) , followed close behind by Adrienne, with a 21:42 (22nd). Liz was next with a very balanced 23:23 (29th), then came Tina with 24:14 (despite having to retrieve her shoe from an oozing hill of mud). Chrissy and Deb were close behind with respective (and respectable) 24:30 and 24:46 (32nd and 33rd place). And then, finally, Eminem came barreling through the finish line with a 25:05 (quickly noting that the old adage "I might not be first, but I'm not last either" had to be amended--because she was, in fact, the last placing female).


BUT....last place finish aside, the NETT women placed 4th overall, and were handed a hefty check for $75, which paid for a delightfully deep-fried lunch at Woodman's.


As for the men, the field was larger, and incredibly competitive. But that didn't scare our manly men (who included Paul Young, Martin Bures, Frank Kjaersgaard, Adam Brown, Brian Scanlon, and Daniel Miller-Medzon). Jerrod Shoemaker won in a seemingly effortless 25:20 and second place finisher Kibrom Temelso finished nearly a minute later in 26-even. Paul led the NETT charge with 31:08 putting him in 38th place. Martin, Frank and Brian followed closely, all timing out in the 32-minute range. Adam was next, with a 33:41, and Daniel completed his first-ever 5-mile race (after a too-quick start) with a very respectable 37:12. (Unlike his mom, and despite being 15 and the youngest competitor, he didn't come last)!

The Youngstah (Paul Young) and the Youngster (Daniel M-M)

The men's team finished in 6th place overall--bringing them lots of congratulations, but no cash. Still, the kindly women of NETT generously decided to split their bounty with the men, and everyone had a great lunch following the race."

Congrats to ALL! ESPECIALLY some of the new faces we saw out there.