Nov. 13, 2004
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The UCF men's cross country team took 14th place in a field of 20 squads, while the women finished 22nd of 23 teams at the NCAA South Regional Cross Country Championship at Harry Pritchard Golf Course on Saturday morning.
Freshman Jake Wilke capped off his stellar freshman season by turning in a time of 31:36 to place 45th of 142 runners. His effort ranks second all-time at UCF in the 10K event and also allowed him to beat several athletes from Georgia State and Belmont, who had bested him in the Atlantic Sun Conference meet two weeks ago.
Following Wilke were sophomore Ryan White in 73rd at 32:36.04 and his brother Brent White, who took 86th with a time of 32:55.96. Junior Ray Gossage also came in the top 100 as he finished 95th at 33:12.11.
In their first regional competition, junior Chucky Jones and senior Brian Sharbono ran 103rd and 110th, respectively. Senior captain Kiley Blake rounded out the UCF squad, placing 112th at 34:00.46.
Florida State won the competition with 59 points followed by Florida (71 points), whose Steve Zieminski won the individual title in 29:35.86. Georgia also earned a spot in the top three with 93 points. The Golden Knights collected 376 points.
Meanwhile, in the women's race, junior captain Astrid Claessens was the Knights' top finisher with a time of 23:23.10, which earned her 94th of 163 runners. Freshman Allison Palmer took 120th at 24:12.73, while junior Michelle Brouillet was just behind her at 24:16.78 for 125th place.
The remaining Golden Knights also finished among the top 150 runners. Freshman Elizabeth Miller was 142nd with a time of 24:52.69 followed by redshirt freshman Kristen Zieminksi in 146th and junior Andrea Morrow in 148th.
Overall, the women collected 579 points. Tennessee grabbed top honors with 78 points, narrowly beating Georgia (80) points. Chattanooga was third with 140 points.