April 22, 2005
ORLANDO - After taking third at the 2004 Atlantic Sun Championship, the UCF men's cross country team continued to excel as the athletes competed in selected track meets this spring. Two Golden Knights even brought home all-conference honors from the Atlantic Sun Track and Field Championship last weekend in Nashville, Tenn.
Freshman Jake Wilke, the No. 1 runner for UCF who earned all-conference recognition with a sixth place finish at the A-Sun meet last fall, added an all-conference track award to his resume. With a time of 14:50.68, he claimed a silver medal in the 5,000m run at the A-Sun Championship. The performance ranks third all-time in the school record books.
Wilke started the spring by winning the 5,000m at the UCF Invitational. He also took second in the event at the Florida Relays (15:03.44) and third at the FSU Relays (14.55.30), improving his time as the season progressed. He also earned fifth place in the 1500m at the USF Brighthouse Invitational.
Meanwhile, sophomore Brent White, a consistent top three runner for the Knights last fall, ran the middle distance events in the spring with great success. He capped off the year by earning a silver medal and all-conference honors in the 1500m at the A-Sun Championship. His time of 3:56.97 in the event puts him in second place all-time at UCF.
Brent's twin brother Ryan White also ran well during track season. He finished among the top 20 in the 1500m at the FSU Relays with a time of 4:01.70, less than a second shy of eclipsing his personal best. He took 11th at the A-Sun meet.
Also in the 5,000m, freshman Paul Fitzpatrick posted the team's second best time of the season at 15:57.01 when he placed in the top 15 at the FSU Relays, while sophomore Chucky Jones posted UCF's third best time of 16:11.16 at the UCF Invitational.