Oct. 1, 2005
CHICAGO - Paced by the efforts of freshmen Chris Mullaney and Jamie Rzepecki, the UCF cross country teams each finished among the top 20 in their field at the 33rd Annual Sean Earle Lakefront Invitational at Montrose Beach on Saturday.
Mullaney placed 22nd at 25:15, shaving over 20 seconds off his previous personal best at the Gator Invitational. Junior Ryan White ran No. 2 for the Golden Knights finishing 117th at 26:32 followed by his twin brother Brent White in 136th with a time of 26:51.
Rounding out the UCF lineup were sophomore Paul Fitzpatrick in 140th, senior captain Ray Gossage in 154th and sophomore Paul Nielsen in 203rd.
The men's squad took 18th place in the field of 28 with 471 points. Host Loyola took top honors with 81 points ahead of Eastern Michigan (98 pts.). Guelph (118 pts.), Grand Valley (125) and Illinois (181 pts.) also earned spots in the top five.
Meanwhile, in the women's race, Rzepecki was the only Knight to finish among the top 100 runners. She came in 97th, recording a time of 19:23. Sophomore Allison Palmer was eight seconds behind her to place 106th.
Sophomore captain Karen Kozub crossed the finish line in 117th place at 19:37, while senior Andrea Morrow was 126th at 19:45.
Freshman Shantile Blackburn capped off the UCF scoring with a 157th place showing at 20:04. Sophomore Kristen Zieminski was 188th at 20:25.
The Golden Knight women collected 548 points to rank 20th of 28 teams. Marquette won the team competition with 54 points followed by Grand Valley (73 pts.), Missouri State (170), Ball State (195) and Guelph (216).
UCF returns to action on Oct. 8 at the Disney Classic in Lake Buena Vista.