Nov. 13, 2010
="" alt="Knight Head" border="0" class="imported"> Read John Denton's Knights Insider | ="" alt="Twitter Logo" border="0" class="imported">Follow us on Twitter | ="" alt="Facebook Logo" border="0" class="imported">Get social with the Knights on Facebook
By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
HOOVER, Ala. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF cross country team finished 24th at the NCAA South Regional Saturday morning at Veterans Park. Senior Ocean Cohen (Sarasota, Fla.) finished first in her final cross country race, finishing in a 6K personal-best time of 22:39.13, a minute and five seconds faster than her previous best time in the event.
"I am pleased with Ocean's performance today" cross country coach Paul Brown said. "We need to continue to run in 4K or 6K races in the future as a way to prepare us for the conference meet and meets like this one today."
With four freshmen running in the first 6K race of their careers, the Knights posted a 24th-place showing with 729 team points.
ACC Champion Florida State finished first, while SEC Champion Florida was second, securing berths into the NCAA Championship meet later this month in Terre Haute, Ind. Freshman Ne'Ausha Logan (long Beach, Calif.) was the second UCF runner to finish, posting a 166th-place finish in 24:21.51. Following Logan were fellow freshmen Sierra Solaun (Gainesville, Fla.) in 172nd (24:38.81), Erica Winston (Long Beach, Calif.) in 174th (24:39.85) and Danielle Scaffidi (Northport, Fla.) in 177th (26:06.62). Senior Carley Dart (Whitby, Ontario) rounded out the UCF runners on Saturday, finishing 178th overall in 25:07.49.
"This was the first time running in a 6K race for a lot of these ladies," Brown said. "We need to continue to go out and recruit strong distance runners if we are going to be a program that will continue to get better and more competitive in conference and against regional powers."
The Knights will now turn their attention to the indoor track season, which is slated to begin on Jan. 14 at the Kentucky Invitational.