Oct. 27, 2001

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Chicago, Ill. - It was a blustery and cold Saturday morning in the Windy City, but that didn't stop UIC sophomore Jenni Goebel, who highlighted the Flames' day at the 2001 Horizon League Cross Country Championships, running to a fifth-place finish in the women's 5-kilometer race.

"I'm really proud of some of our women's individual performances," remarked UIC head coach Jim Knoedel after placing two runners in the top 20.

Goebel, who earned All-Horizon League recognition, matched her fifth-place standing of a year ago, finishing in a time of 18:05. Freshman Lizet Diaz also ran strong for the UIC women's team, placing 20th in 18:47. Jessica Streit (42nd/20:12) and Sara Jeffers (45th/20:12) also ran for the Flames, who did not finish enough competitors to qualify for a team score in the event.

Loyola's Kristyne McGuinn guided her women's squad to the team title, capturing the individual championship with a time of 17:28. Overall, the Ramblers finished with 41 points, eight ahead of second place Butler.

On the men's side, the Flames, who hosted the event, ran to a sixth-place finish at the championships, totaling 159 points. Butler and Loyola recorded the first tie in Horizon League Championship history with each team tallying 34 points for a share of the title. League newcomer Youngstown State took third with 95 points, followed by UW-Milwaukee (112), Detroit (141), UIC, Wright State (170) and UW-Green Bay (231).

Individually, junior Rich Daubert paced the Flames with a time of 26:06, good for a 23rd-place finish. Fellow junior Joe Marren was not far behind, taking 25th in 26:22. Freshman Mikhail Davidyan (44th/27:18), senior Russ Riberto (47th/27:25) and Tristan Roche (55th/27:51) rounded out the top five finishers for UIC.

"We need to learn to get over the hump," said Coach Knoedel referring to his teams finish the past few years at the championships. "We have to turn these fifth and sixth place finishes into third and fourth place finishes."

Butler's Martin Fedmowski captured the individual men's title at the championships in 24:40 with teammate Justin Young placing second.