Oct. 7, 2006
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The UCF men's cross country team took top honors and the women's squad finished sixth as the Golden Knights raced in the Disney Classic and Disney's Wide World of Sports on Saturday morning.
Led by a third-place performance from junior Dustin Hicks (Oviedo HS), UCF finished with 60 points, 10 points ahead of second-place Florida Southern. Three of the men completed the 8K course in under 26 minutes, including Hicks who posted a time of 25:28.52. Senior Brent White (Boynton Beach, Fla./Santaluces HS) took ninth overall at 25:50.73, while brother Ryan White (Boynton Beach, Fla./Santaluces HS) followed in 10th at 25:52.98.
Juniors Paul Fitzpatrick (Ocala, Fla./Vanguard HS) and Paul Nielsen (Oviedo HS) also scored for the Golden Knights. Fitzpatrick was 15th at 26:06.30 and Nielsen placed 27th at 26:24.08.
On the women's side, freshman Jenny Clausen (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial HS) crossed the finish line in 12th place with a time of 18:31.20. The effort moves her to fifth all-time at UCF in the 5K.
Running No. 2 for the Golden Knights was sophomore Shantile Blackburn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Laughlin HS), who took 23rd at 19:05.56, and sophomore Jamie Rzepecki (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora HS) was 33rd at 19:24.45. Rounding out the scoring five, junior Elizabeth Miller (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek HS) came in 48th at 19:51.11, while her classmate Allison Palmer (Oviedo HS) was 58th at 20:04.18.
Brigham Young earned the women's title with 35 points, while IPFW (94 points) and Milligan College (129) were second and third, respectively. Only four points separated fourth through sixth place. Hofstra collected 147 points followed by Florida Atlantic with 149 and UCF with 151.
The Golden Knights return to action on Friday, Oct. 13 at the Stetson Invitational and on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Furman Invitational.
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