Oct. 15, 2006
GREENVILLE, S.C. (www.ucfathletics.com) - In their final tune-up prior to the Conference USA Championship, the UCF men's cross country team placed second and the women took third at the Furman Invitational at the Furman University Golf Course on Saturday morning.
Currently ranked 10th in the South Region by the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association, the Golden Knight men collected 83 points to finish behind North Carolina (44 points). Host Furman followed in third with 88 points. UCF also beat C-USA rivals Marshall and East Carolina.
For the fourth consecutive time this season, junior Dustin Hicks (Oviedo HS) led the Golden Knights as he took ninth at 26:25. Running No. 2 for UCF was senior Brent White (Boynton Beach, Fla./Santaluces HS), who finished 15th at 26:41.
Junior Paul Fitzpatrick (Ocala, Fla./Vanguard HS) was 21st at 26:49 and senior Ryan White (Boynton Beach, Fla./Santaluces HS) was 23rd at 26:50. Junior captain Paul Nielsen (Oviedo HS) rounded out the scoring five in 27th at 26:59.
On the women's side, UCF earned 100 points to finish behind North Florida (73 points) and Furman (83). The Golden Knights defeated some top programs including South Carolina (113 points) and Clemson (133) as well as C-USA rivals ECU and Marshall.
Freshman Jenny Clausen (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial HS) finished at the top of UCF's line-up in fifth place with a time of 18:45. Sophomores Shantile Blackburn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Laughlin HS) and Jamie Rzepecki (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora HS) were 13th and 16th, respectively. Juniors Elizabeth Miller, Karen Kozub and Allison Palmer also placed among the top 40 runners.
"I was very pleased by the performances because all of our runners lived up to expectations," said UCF head coach Marcia Mansur-Wenworth. "I was particularly proud of our overall men's performance and our top three women."
The Golden Knights next race is the Conference USA Championship, which will be hosted by East Carolina on Oct. 28 in Greenville, N.C.
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