Sept. 16, 2006
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The UCF men's cross country team took second and the women placed sixth as the Golden Knights opened the season at the Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday morning.
"I was pleased with the solid showing by the men," said UCF head coach Marcia Mansur-Wentworth. "We had some good individual performances by the women, but didn't open as strong as we had hoped. We'll look to bring it all together for next week's meet."
All of the Golden Knight men finished the 8K race in under 27 minutes. In his UCF debut, junior Dustin Hicks (Oviedo HS) ran a 25:16.39 for 16th place. Seniors Brent and Ryan White (Boynton Beach, Fla./Santaluces HS) finished 23rd and 29th, respectively. Junior Paul Fitzpatrick (Ocala, Fla./Vanguard HS) came in at 26:08.91 for 35th place followed by classmate Paul Nielsen (Oviedo HS) in 40th at 26:16.55.
Freshman John Horst (Christiansburg, Va./Christiansburg HS) ran a 26:20.34 for 47th place in his collegiate debut and junior Matt Clements (Oviedo HS) rounded out the scoring lineup in 62nd.
The Golden Knights finished behind only host Florida in the field of 17 teams.
Meanwhile, freshman Jenny Clausen (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial HS) led the UCF women as she placed 21st with a time of 18:35.49 in the 5K. Sophomore Shantile Blackburn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Laughlin HS) ran a personal best of 18:54.32 for 29th.
Also scoring for the Golden Knights were sophomore Jamie Rzepecki (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora HS) in 38th and junior captain Karen Kozub (Alden, N.Y./Alden HS) in 58th.
Like Blackburn, junior Elizabeth Miller (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek HS) ran a personal best with a time of 19:34.19 for 58th place. Her classmate Allison Palmer (Oviedo HS) and senior Christina Jones (Coral Springs HS) also scored in 64th and 71st.
The Gators also won the women's team title followed by Florida International in second place and Tampa in third.
The Golden Knights return to action at the Great American Cross Country Classic in Birmingham, Ala. on Sept. 23. For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics.