Cross Country Opens Strong At 5th Annual UIC Home Opener
Sept. 1, 2001
Palos Hills, Ill. - The UIC men's and women's cross country squads got off on the right foot on Saturday morning as both squads showed well at the 5th Annual UIC Home Opener at the Palos Forest Preserve. The men's team earned a split on the day, clipping Chicago State 24-31 while falling to a loaded Loyola squad, 15-50. The UIC women's team, meanwhile, came up short versus both its opponents, dropping decisions to Northwestern (18-43) and a Horizon League foe Loyola (18-43). "We were a little short handed today," said UIC Head Coach Jim Knoedel who held out some of his runners for the season-opening race. "We sat some people out so they could get in some training. Overall I'm very pleased with the way our top three did on both sides. Now we've just got to pull some of the tail end a little closer to the front." Freshman Mikhail Davidyan, competing in his first collegiate meet, set the tone for the Flames men's squad, placing 11th in 21:56 on the 4.1-mile course. UIC senior Russ Riberto (21:58) and sophomore Tristan Roche (21:59) finished just behind Davidyan to secure 12th and 13th place respectively. Loyola dominated the race with Ramblers occupying the first nine finishes. Freshman Robert Wade took first, coming in ahead of a pack of his teammates with a time of 21:07.
On the women's side, sophomore Jenni Goebel paved the way for the Flames on the two-mile course with a solid time of 11:29, which gave her a fourth place finish. Freshman Lizet Diaz secured UIC another top-10 finish as the Aurora native took ninth in 12:00. Loyola runners finished one-two in the race with senior Alana Crisman crossing in 10:55 while teammate Kristyne McGuinn was 18 seconds behind at 11:13.
The Flames will now take their act on the road as they compete on Friday, Sept. 7, in Peoria Ill., at the Bradley Open at 5:00 p.m. 5th ANNUAL UIC HOME OPENER
UIC 24 Chicago St. 31
Loyola 15 UIC 50
Loyola 15 Chicago St. 50 |
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