Sept. 13, 2014
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
Story by Erika Loomer
Video by Rachel White
UCFKnights.com
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ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF Invitational belonged to the Knights as junior Anne-Marie Blaney won the event for the second consecutive year and led the team to a first place finish.
The Knights placed first out of the four competing Division I teams, finishing with an impressive 17 points. Blaney led the way as the Knights placed their first five harriers in the top six overall.
I told the ladies to take an aggressive approach, said Assistant Coach Johnny Gray. They did what I asked and we accomplished our goals. I am very pleased with today's performance.
In the runner-up spot was Stetson (50 points) with FIU (92) and Bethune-Cookman (93) rounding out the race. Rollins (25) topped Edward Waters (31) in the non-Division I race.
Blaney, who finished with a time of 18:04.37, led the group of 54 runners early on and never looked back. With four Knights finishing in the top five, Blaney attributes their success to the team's focus leading up to the race.
This being our home meet we all stepped it up and pushed ourselves, said Blaney. Our main goal was to take a risk. I think we all did that and stayed together.
Sophomore Holly Wooley and freshman Laura Korsmit had a great race for the Knights, finishing in second and third place, with times of 18:47.55 and 18:53.27, respectively.
Also having a solid day was freshman Rosie Chamberlain, who finished in fifth place in only her second race as a Knight.
I felt good starting the race and I knew I needed to do what I did at the last meet, which was go out as hard as I could, said Chamberlain. It felt good racing at home for the first time. There were a lot of people out here supporting us and it kept me going all the way through the end.
Also competing today at the UCF Invite was a field of five men's teams. FIU topped Stetson and Bethune-Cookman for the competing Division I teams. In the non-Division I race Rollins beat Edward Waters.
UCF will return to action next Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Mountain Dew Invitational in Gainesville.