Cross Country Runs Best Race of the Season at Pre-NCAAs

Saturday, October 14

Terre Haute, IN

11:00 AM

Florida Gators

NCAA Pre-Nationals

Cross Country Runs Best Race of the Season at Pre-NCAAs

Saturday, October 14, 2006 | Cross Country

The University of Florida men's and women's cross country teams both ran outstanding races at the 2006 Pre-NCAA Invitational at the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute, Ind. Saturday. Both teams finished in the top 10, with the men in third behind only No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 Iona, and the women in eighth ahead of four ranked teams.

The Florida women finished eighth of 36 teams with 316 points in the Women's Blue race, an improvement from their 24th-place finish last season. The seven teams finishing ahead of the Gators were all ranked, with the Gators finished ahead of No. 7 Princeton, No. 11 Iowa, No. 13 Wake Forest, No. 26 Virginia and Weber State and Yale, who were both receiving votes. The Gators truly ran a team race, with only 38.6 seconds separating the first and fifth finishers.

"I thought the women did a great job today," Head Coach Jeff Pigg said. "They went out and took care of business in nice fashion. We wanted to do what we do in practice every day, just go out and run hard and run together as a team, and that is what we were able to do. It is nice to have some depth, so that if one athlete doesn't run her best race, she knows that one of her teammates will be able to step up to cover her. They are all sharing the burden of performing well, it is not on any one athletes shoulders. As long as we continue to perform well in the post-season, this race should get us to the NCAA meet."

Junior Lindsay Sundell (Fort Salonga, N.Y.) led the Gators with a career-best time of 20:56.6 in the 6K race to finish 36th overall. Her time was the sixth fastest 6K time in school history. Senior Jamie Geissler (Spokane, Wash.) was the Gators second finisher in 54th overall with a career-best time of 21:11.0, the eighth fastest 6K time in school history. Junior Kristen Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) and sophomore Kathryn Kramer (Tampa, Fla.) came in right together in 69th and 70th with times of 21:19.8, a new career-best for Kramer. Sophomore LeeAnn Nawrocki (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) rounded out the scoring for the Gators in 87th with a career-best 6K of 21:35.2. Sophomore Sara Petrick (Apollo Beach, Fla.) was Florida's sixth finisher in 129th overall with a time of 21:54.6, while sophomore Jacy Kruzel (Cooper City, Fla.) finished 138th in 22:01.2.

"Lindsay was strong as always," Pigg said. "We count on that from her. Jamie Geissler bounced back form not a great meet at Notre Dame to have a very solid performance today. I would say our best performance today came from Kathryn Kramer. She stepped up really big and helped us get over the hump a little bit."

The No. 25 Florida men finished third of 36 teams in the Men's White Race, behind only No. 5 Iona and No. 3 Stanford. The Gators finished a head of No. 9 BYU, No. 14 Michigan, No. 16 Virginia, No. 19 William & Mary, No. 20 Arizona State, No. 21 Notre Dame, No. 28 Eastern Michigan and No. 30 Cal Poly-SLO. Michigan and Notre Dame both recorded wins over the Gators just two weeks ago at the Notre Dame Invitational. The Florida men also ran a quality team race with a pack spread of just under a minute.

"This team is just a bunch of Florida guys on a mission to raise the level Florida cross country competes at," Pigg said. "It is exciting to see their work pay off. The highlight for me is to see the Gators do well and elevate level we compete at. We are doing it the right way, with a bunch of Florida kids who work hard on both the men's and the women's side. They deserve success."

Sophomore Jeremy Criscione (Interlachen, Fla.) ran another career-best time to lead the Gators in the 8K race. His time of 23:57.0 was the first sub-24 minutes 8K time of his career and placed him 17th overall. It was also the sixth fastest 8K time ever run by a Florida athlete. Junior Steven Hassen (Ocala, Fla.) looked to be back in full form after his hernia surgery this summer, finishing the race in 27th place with a career-best time of 24:07.5. Junior Enoch Nadler (Keystone Heights, Fla.) also set a new career-best with his time of 24:12.3 to finish 34th overall. Senior Ryder Leary (Yulee, Fla.) set a career-best time of 24:33.5 in his first race of the season, finished 63rd. Senior Jose Garcia (Miami, Fla.) rounded out Florida's scoring in 78th place with a time of 24:43.8. Junior Scott Hans (Middleburg, Fla.) and freshman Justin Taylor (St. Augustine, Fla.) were the Gators sixth and seventh finishers in 147th and 155th with times of 25:11.7 and 25:14.8, respectively.

"Hassen has a lot of momentum right now, especially after just having surgery this summer," Pigg said. "Ryder certainly helps us a lot and ran the best race of his life today. Jose is good, he means business. This summer he ran 80 miles a week, while working 40 hours a week at a job he had to commute an hour to each way. He is not afraid of being out of his comfort zone and is really a man on a mission to be good in cross country. This race was rewarding for all our runners and the good thing is that there is still room for improvement. We are still going to get better.

The Pre-NCAA Invitational is the most competitive race of the regular season. Each year it is held at the site of that year's NCAA Championships. 73 women's teams competed in the two seeded women's races. No. 1 Stanford took the team title in the Women's Blue race, with Michelle Sikes of Wake Forest taking the individual title. No. 5 North Carolina State took the Women's White team title with the Wolfpack's Julia Lucas taking individual top honors. Southeastern Conference teams No. 24 Tennessee, Georgia and Auburn competed in this race, with Tennessee finishing seventh, Georgia 10th and Auburn 36th. Seventy-two men's teams competed in the two seeded 8K races. No. 5 Iona took the men's title in the Men's White race, with Josh McDougal of Liberty taking individual honors. No. 4 Colorado won the Men's Blue race with Martin Fagan of Providence taking the individual title. Tennessee and Georgia also competed in this race, taking 19th and 25th, respectively.

Florida now heads into the post-season with a week off from competition before the Southeastern Conference Championships in Baton Rouge, La. on Saturday, October 28.

Women's Top 10 and Ranked Team Finishes

1. No. 1 Stanford - 45

2. No. 18 Minnesota - 200

3. No. 16 Arizona State - 224

4. No. 6 BYU - 242

5. No. 10 Providence - 247

6. No. 21 Michigan State - 255

7. No. 12 Florida State - 268

8. FLORIDA (rv) - 316

9. No. 7 Princeton - 336

10. No. 11 Iowa - 346

11. No. 26 Virginia - 359