Oct. 3, 2008
TITUSVILLE, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Led by senior Shantile Blackburn's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) career-best performance and first-place finish, the UCF cross country team won their second event of the 2008 season, claiming the FLRunners.com Invitational at Chain of Lakes Park in Titusville, Fla.
Blackburn paced the field with a dominating performance for her first career individual win, finishing the race in a personal-best 17:47. The performance from the senior was also the second-best 5K time in school history, behind only Sonja Shedden's 17:12 in 2000.
"We had a great race today because everyone did their best, and I am very impressed with Shantile and Ocean [Cohen]," said head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. "Shantile ran to win, but more important than that she ran her best. Coach Sanders and coach [Dennis] Kozub have done an outstanding job of motivating the team, and the team has done a great job of showing team unity."
Blackburn was not alone in her career performance as each of the top five runners for UCF posted personal-best times. Sophomore Ocean Cohen (Sarasota, Fla.) took third place finishing the race in 18:35 while junior Erica Weitz (Morganville, N.J.) was just one second behind in fourth place. Rounding out the top five for UCF were freshman Katrina Skinner (Tampa, Fla.) and junior Shannon Kelly (Tampa, Fla.) who finished in 18:59 and 19:00 respectively.
"I was extremely proud of them today, they are working really, really hard," said assistant coach Tyangela Sanders. "The training has been really rough this week so I was surprised at how well they performed. We are looking forwarded to conference and are hoping to shock people."
Freshman Kathia Skinner (Tampa, Fla.) finished the race in 19:37 while junior Carley Dart (Whitby, Ontario) posted 20:25 to round out the Knights' competitors.
"I am getting really excited about going to conference in Memphis in three weeks because mentally the team is beginning to move in a positive direction. If we can be mentally tough enough to handle adverse situations, there is no doubt we can be amongst the top in C-USA.
UCF has one race left in the regular season before taking some time off before the Conference USA Championships on Nov. 1 in Memphis, Tenn. The Knights will run in the Disney Classic next Saturday, Oct. 11 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
2008 FLRunners.com Invitational
Chain of Lakes Park (Titusville, Fla.)
Oct. 3, 2008 - 5K
Team Results
1. UCF...................19
2. Miami (Fla.)..........69
3. The Citadel...........105
4. Florida Gulf Coast....149
5. Stetson...............170
6. Pasco-Hernando CC.....180
7. FIU...................192
8. Flagler...............212
9. Rollins...............228
10. Warner Southern......229
11. Bethune-Cookman......273
12. Palm Beach Atlantic..324
13. St. Thomas...........382
14. Chipola College......392
Individual Results
1. Shantile Blackburn 17:47.12
3. Ocean Cohen 18:36.27
4. Erica Weitz 18:41.58
8. Katrina Skinner 18:59.86
9. Shannon Kelly 19:02.37
17. Kathia Skinner 19:42.89
25. Carley Dart 20:11.99