Sept. 24, 2000

MINNEAPOLIS - A top-level cross country meet such as the Roy Griak Invitational could be overwhelming for certain teams.

"If you were to pick the top five meets in the country, this would be one of them," UIC coach Jim Knoedel said.

The UIC men's team, however, banded together and all finished within 22 places of each other to help the Flames to a 29th place finish of 905 points out of the 31-team field.

Sophomore Rich Daubert led the way for UIC for the third time in as many meets with a time of 26:40. Daubert was followed by Danny Smith (177th, 26:57), Joe Marren (180th, 27:01), Russ Riberto(184th, 27:22) and Brian Brady (193rd, 28:00).

The UIC women's team, however, continues to fight injuries and was only able to field three runners for the meet.

Freshman Jenni Goebel paced the Flames with a 103rd place finish of 22:52. Goebel was followed by Moneika Thompson (216th, 24:40) and Kim Brown (244th, 26:15).

Knoedel was most impressed with Daubert, Smith, Marren and Thompson as they each improved their time from last year's Griak Invitational.

"Because they participated in last year's meet, you could see how they have matured as runners," Knoedel said