Cross Country to Run in NCAA Championships Monday
Monday, November 20, 2006 | Cross Country
The University of Florida men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships in at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center outside of Terre Haute, Ind. on Monday. The women will run a 6K race at noon, with the men's 10K race following at 1:15 p.m.
The eight women traveling for the Gators are senior Jamie Geissler, juniors Kristen Johnson and Lindsay Sundell and sophomores Devin Gapstur, Jacy Kruzel, Kathryn Kramer, LeeAnne Nawrocki and Sara Petrick. The eight men traveling for Florida include seniors Daniel Parker and Ryder Leary, juniors Jose Garcia, Steven Hassen and Enoch Nadler, sophomore Jeremy Criscione and freshmen Aaron Kindt and Justin Taylor. Only seven athletes will run in each race, but an eighth person travels, so that the Gators will have a full team in case of injury or illness after arriving in Indiana.
There are 31 teams in each race plus 38 individuals for a total of 255 athletes running in each race. The men's field is No. 15 Alabama, No. 27 American, No. 23 Arizona, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 19 Butler, No. 8 BYU, Cal Poly (rv), No. 2 Colorado, No. 18 Florida, No. 10 Florida State, No. 13 Georgetown, No. 4 Iona, No. 24 Iowa, No. 17 Kansas, No. 25 Louisville, No. 26, Michigan State, No. 7 North Carolina State, No. 14 Notre Dame, No. 12 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Oregon, No. 9 Portland, No. 11 Providence, No. 6 Stanford, No. 16 Texas, No. 28 UC-Santa Barbara, No. 30 UCLA, No. 29 Virginia, No. 22 Washington, Washington State (rv), No. 21 William & Mary and No. 1 Wisconsin. There will also be individuals from Arizona State, Boise State, Boston College, Bucknell, Cal, Clemson, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Farleigh Dickinson, Georgia, Harvard, Illinois, Indiana, Indiana State, Iowa State, La Salle, Lamar, Liberty, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Missouri, Norfolk State, Northern Arizona, Ohio State, Penn State, Princeton, South Alabama, Southern Utah, Texas A&M, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas Tech, UTEP, Weber State and Wyoming.
Wisconsin took the team title last season with 37 points, followed by Arkansas (105), Notre Dame (178), Iona (205) and Colorado (222). Chris Solinksy from Wisconsin is the top finisher from last season returning this season. He finished third overall last year. Other individuals in the top 10 returning this year include: Josh McDougal (Liberty), Josh Rohatinsky (BYU), Kurt Benninger (Notre Dame), Matt Withrow (Wisconsin) and Robert Cheseret (Arizona).
The women's field is No. 11 Arizona State, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 30 Baylor, No. 16 Boston College, No. 17 BYU, No. 6 Colorado, No. 22 Colorado State, No. 12 Duke, No. 23 Florida, No. 29 Florida State, No. 18 Georgetown, No. 15 Georgia, No. 5 Illinois, No. 19 Iona, no. 24 Iowa, No. 10 Michigan, No. 4 Michigan State, No. 9 Minnesota, North Carolina, No. 3 North Carolina State, No. 14 Princeton, No. 21 Providence, No. 1 Stanford, No. 25 Tennessee, No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 7 UC-Santa Barbara, No. 27 Virginia, No. 20 Virginia Tech, Wake Forest (rv), No. 26 Weber State and No. 8 Wisconsin. There will also be individuals representing Alabama, Boston, Bucknell, Campbell, Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina, Connecticut, Cornell, Indiana, Iowa State, James Madison, LaSalle, Lamar, Louisville, Loyola Marymount, Mississippi State, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oral Roberts, Penn State, Penn, Samford, Southern Methodist, Texas A&M, Texas-Arlington, Tulsa, UC-Irvine, Valparaiso, Villanova, Washington and Yale.
Stanford took the 2006 team title with 146 points, followed by Colorado (181), Duke (185), Arizona State (191) and Illinois (212). The top returning individual from a year ago is Stanford's Arrianna Lambie who finished eighth. She and Colorado's Liza Pasciuto are the only athletes that were in the top 10 last year that are returning this year.
This marks only the second time in school history both the men's and women's teams have qualified for the NCAA Championships in the same year. The other was 1997, when the women finished 16th and the men finished 22nd. This trip to the NCAA Championships for the Gator women has been a long time coming. This will be the first trip to the NCAA Championships for the Gator women since 1999. Florida has made five previous trips to the NCAA Championships, including three in a row from 1997-99. The Gators also went in back-to-back years in 1994 and 1995. Florida's highest NCAA finish was 12th in 1995. In 1994 the Gators finished 20th at their first NCAA Championship appearance. After a one-year hiatus from the championships, the Gators finished 16th in 1997, followed by a 22nd-place performance in 1998 and a 31st-place finish in 1999. The Florida women also qualified for one AIAW Championship and placed seventh in 1981.
As for individuals in the NCAA Championships, the Florida women have not had even an individual compete in the race since 1999. Prior to that, Florida had individuals compete without the team from 1980-84 and 1990-93. Florida's top finisher at the NCAA Championships was Shelly Steely, who finished second in 1984.
The Florida men's cross country team has qualified for NCAA Championships eight times in school history. This marks the first time Florida has qualified for the NCAA Championships in three consecutive years. The first time the Gators appeared was in 1979 and the team finished 24th. Florida returned seven years later in 1986, when current head coach Jeff Pigg was a member of the team, to finish eighth. Four years later Florida earned its highest finish ever in the NCAA Championships as they finished sixth. In 1993, John Webb became the first coach in Florida history to lead the cross country team to two NCAA Championships. That year the team finished 21st. Prior to 2004 the Gator's last appearance was 1997 when the team finished 22nd. In 2004, the Gator finished 27th. They improved to 23rd last season.
In years the Gators did not send a team, they have sent individuals. The highest a Florida individual has placed is 13th. Dan Middleman finished 13th in 1990, which was a year the team also ran. In 1988, Tom Nohilly placed 13th as an individual qualifier.
