TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF cross country team showed its depth as the Knights edged Jacksonville for second place at the FSU Invitational on Friday morning. Four Knights finished in the top 25, with redshirt senior Anne-Marie Blaney taking home the top honors.
"Five spots usually take care of the scoring; however, the competition was fierce between Jacksonville and the Knights," assistant coach Johnny Gray said. "We tied Jacksonville with 56 points, and had to go to the sixth place finisher to decide the tiebreaker. Victoria Jung came home strong, passing a JU runner to help us secure our second place finish!"
Blaney led a trio of Knights with top 10 finishes, capturing the individual title for the third straight year with a time of 17:14.6.
Junior Rosie Chamberlain turned in a personal-best time of 18:08.9 to claim fifth place in the standings, while redshirt junior Holly Wooley finished eighth with a time of 18:14.5.
Junior Kalleigh Forrester gave the Black and Gold four top 25 finishes, as she crossed the line in 18:46.3 for 17th place. Freshman Brittany Gill finished 26th with a time of 19:10.2. Freshman Victoria Jung secured a second place spot for the Knights as her time of 19:15.5 put her in 36th place.
Redshirt junior Marissa Codispodi crossed the line in 19:27.6. Freshman Shiree Hinds and junior Ashton McMurray finished with times of 20:11.1 and 20:21.3, respectively. Junior Laura Korsmit rounded out the UCF competitors with a time of 21:15.8.
"Our ladies ran well overall, and I'm very excited with what's to come," Gray said.
The Knights are back in action on Oct. 14, competing at the USF Invite in Tampa.