Sept. 18, 2010
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Senior Ocean Cohen once again was the top UCF cross country runner at Saturday's Mountain Dew Invitational. Her time of 19:01.46 was good for 35th place and helped the Knights to a 13th-place team finish with 329 points.
"I am pleased with how this team ran today, especially doing so with limited warm-up time," said cross country coach Paul Brown.
For the sixth consecutive year, the hosts from Florida placed first at the annual meet with 41 points on the strength of four top-10 finishers.
Freshman Sierra Solaun (19:48.63, 60th) and senior Carley Dart (19:49.51, 63rd) were the second and third UCF runners to cross the line, respectively. Solaun earned 58 points for the team, while Dart's finish was good for 61 points towards the team's total.
Alyssa Franks (20:21.80, 88th), Na'Ausha Logan (20:47.71, 105th), Erica Winston (21:00.68, 111th) and Katie Homme (21:53.05, 134th) all rounded out the scoring for the Knights.
Winston's time was a personal best on a 5K course by three minutes and 19 seconds. Logan also set a new personal-best time, eclipsing her mark set last week by nearly a minute and a half, while Homme also surpassed her previous time by 50 seconds.
UCF's average time of finish (19:57.83) was more than 15 seconds faster than the 14th-place team, Florida Tech (20:12.97). Saturday's race saw 22 teams from Florida competing with Jacksonville's Joane Pierre claiming the top spot with a time of 17:33.50.
"We now will really begin to turn our focus to the conference championships in November," Brown said. "We are headed in the right direction and have the right attitude, we just need to continue to get better and use every week as preparation for the final meet of the season."
The Knights will next run on Friday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. when they host their second meet of the season. The 2010 Knight Attack will mark the final race at UCF this season. Last fall, the Knights won the event with 17 points with eight runners in the top 10.