Cross Country Hosts 21st Annual Mountain Dew Invitational
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 | Cross Country
The University of Florida will host the 21st Annual Mountain Dew Invitational on Friday, Sept. 18 at the UF Golf Course beginning at 4:30 p.m. The Gators welcome 20 collegiate women's programs and 19 collegiate men's teams, as well as almost 50 Florida high school teams.
The junior varsity high school girls' race will kick off the invitational at 4:30 p.m., followed by the JV boys at 5 p.m. The high school varsity teams will face off at 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. with the girls racing in the first heat. All high school races are 5,000m events.
The collegiate women's 5K is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. with the collegiate men's 8K at 7 p.m. There will be two awards ceremonies to honor the top finishers – the high school ceremony at 6:50 p.m. and the collegiate awards will conclude the night at 7:45 p.m.
Both UF's men and women have taken first in this event for the past four years. The women's team, which is ranked 14th in the nation, has won the event 17 times in the 20-year history, including a run of nine straight first-place victories from 1992 to 2000. The men's team has won 15 times, also with nine consecutive top finishes.
The men have boasted the last four champions, as Enoch Nadler and Henok Lechebo each crossed the finish line first in 2007 and 2005, respectively, and Jeremy Criscione won in 2006 and 2008. Sophomore Genevieve LaCaze (Daisy Hill, Australia) won her first-ever collegiate race last year as she took first while recording the fifth-best time in the event's history. Gator women also won in 2006 (Lindsay Sundell) and 2005 (Allison Mascas).
Twenty other in-state women's teams join Florida on the race, including last year's top-five teams in runner-up USF, third-place Tampa, fourth-place Jacksonville and fifth-place UCF. The Gator men are joined by 19 other Florida schools, including 2008 runner-up North Florida, third-place FIU, fourth-place Nova Southeastern and fifth-place Tampa.
Florida will host 49 high school programs from the around the state in the first four events of the evening.
Fans attending the event can park at UF's law school on Second Avenue.
Results will be posted on www.GatorZone.com/Crosscountry after the high school events have concluded and again after the conclusion of the collegiate races. Follow the UF cross country program on Twitter and get the results as soon as possible by logging onto www.twitter.com/GatorZoneXCntry.
Fans can also contribute to the SEC Together We CAN Food Drive at the Mountain Dew Invitational. Everyone is encourage to bring canned goods to the meet as Florida's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is working with the Southeastern Conference to fill Gainesville area food banks during its 10-day, 12-school drive. Last year, Together We CAN Drive raised over 40,000 pounds of food and donations.
Schedule of Events
| 4:30 p.m. | Junior Varsity High School Girls (5,000m) |
| 5 p.m. | Junior Varsity High School Boys (5,000m) |
| 5:30 p.m. | Varsity High School Girls (5,000m) |
| 6 p.m. | Varsity High School Boys (5,000m) |
| 6:30 p.m. | Collegiate Women (5K) |
| 7 p.m. | Collegiate Men (8K) |
