Florida Gators
Pre-NCAA Invitational
X-Country 15th at Pre-Nationals
Sunday, October 19, 2003 | Cross Country
The Florida men's cross finished 15th among the 36 teams in the Pre-NCAA Gold race in Waterloo, Iowa. The Pre-NCAA meet gives teams a chance to preview the course for the 2003 NCAA Championship which takes place in just over a month. This season's Pre-National featured 73 teams in the Gold and Purple races, including 25 of the nation's top-30 ranked teams and all 11 teams receiving votes in the MONDO/USCCCA Men's Cross Country Coaches Poll.
Florida, who is currently ranked third in the NCAA South region, finished behind 13 teams ranked or receiving votes, but ahead of four teams ranked or receiving votes to earn valuable points for selection to the NCAA Championship. The Gators finished with 444 points. No. 5 Colorado won the Gold race with 109 points.
Junior Steve Zieminksi led Florida with a career-best 8K time of 24:03.4 to finish 20th. Junior Cory Presnick finished second for the Gators and 76th overall with a career-best time of 24:47.0, breaking the 25 minute barrier for the first time in his career. Freshman Steven Hassen also finished under 25 minutes with a time of 24:58.5 to finish third for Florida and 90th overall. Juniors Moise Joseph and Brent Schneider rounded out the scoring for Florida finishing in 123rd and 135th places, respectively. Florida's sixth finisher, sophomore Adam Sisler, set a new career-best time by 40 seconds with a tiem of 25:33.3. Dathan Ritzenhein of Colorado was the overall champion in the Gold race with a time of 23:17.7.
"We had a mediocre day today," head coach Jeff Pigg said. "We did make some improvements and saw some things to work on for SEC (Championships) in two weeks. I thought Steve Zieminski ran a great race today. It was a break through cross country performance for him."
No. 1 Stanford won the men's Purple race with 25 points. Kipi Kangogo of BYU was the individual champion of the Purple race.
The Gators have two weeks to prepare for the Southeastern Conference Championships. The championships take place Monday, November 3 at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga.
Florida Finishers
20. Steve Zieminksi, 24:03.4
76. Cory Presnick, 24:47.0
90. Steven Hassen, 24:58.5
123. Moise Jospeh, 25:18.5
135. Brent Schneider, 25:25.3
157. Adam Sisler, 25:33.3
236. Daniel Parker, 27:34.2
