Cross Country Kicks Off 2010 Competition With Mountain Dew Invitational Saturday
Friday, September 17, 2010 | Cross Country
Florida's 2010 cross country season kicks off Saturday at home with the 22nd annual Mountain Dew Invitational. UF's only home cross country event of the season will take place at the Gators' Mark Bostick Golf Course, where both the men's and women's squads will be looking to extend their Mountain Dew Invitational win streaks to six straight titles.
“We are really looking forward to having our first meet tomorrow,” cross country coach Todd Morgan said. “Training has been going really well and we're looking forward to getting the competition going. We really appreciate all of the schools coming to Gainesville to run. We're also looking forward to a great high school competition. Tomorrow's meet gives high school athletes in Florida a great opportunity to run at an elite collegiate facility.”
The Gators will host 19 other Florida colleges and universities for the collegiate races, while over 50 men's and women's high school teams are slated to compete in the varsity and junior varsity high school races. The women's collegiate 5K will be the first event of the Mountain Dew Invite and will begin at 8 a.m. The men's 8K will start at 8:30 a.m., with the high school races directly following from 9:05 a.m.-10:35 a.m.
Florida's cross country meet Saturday will additionally be one of UF's targeted events for the SEC Together We CAN Food Drive. Spectators can bring their canned goods to the meet to help fight hunger in Gainesville. In conjunction with the other 11 SEC institutions, Florida's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items at Gator events from Sept. 17-26. Last year, the “SEC Together We CAN Drive” raised over 42,500 pounds of food and donations throughout the league. Donations in Gainesville will benefit the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank.
At last year's Mountain Dew Invitational, both Gator teams placed six UF runners in the top 10, as the women tallied 18 points and the men recorded 20 points to take both collegiate overall titles. Florida's Charlotte Browning (Chichester, England) took the women's 5K in 17:25.08, the third-best time ever run at the Gator Invitational. On the men's side, Anthony Morales (Palm Coast, Fla.) turned in Florida's highest finish, a second-place showing and then personal best time in the 8K.
Florida's women open the 2010 cross country season picked by the SEC Coaches to defend their league title, while the women's squad also checked in at No. 8 on the 2010 USTFCCCA Division I Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Gator women are the second-ranked team in the South Region.
On the men's side, the Gators were tabbed the No. 3 team in the South Region by USTFCCCA and received 10 votes for the national poll, but were held out of the top-30. Florida was picked to finish third in the SEC by vote of the league's head coaches August 25.
22nd Annual Mountain Dew Invitational Schedule (Admission free)
6:30 a.m. Course open for warm-ups
7:50 a.m. National Anthem
8:00 a.m. Intercollegiate/College Open Women's 5K
8:30 a.m. Intercollegiate/College Open Men's 8K
9:05 a.m. Varsity High School Girls 5K
9:30 a.m. College Awards Ceremony
9:35 a.m. Varsity High School Boys 5K
10:05 a.m. Junior Varsity High School Girls 5K
10:35 a.m. Junior Varsity High School Boys 5K
11 a.m. High School Awards Ceremony
Collegiate Participants
Ave Maria, Embry-Riddle, FAMU, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida International, Florida Southern, Florida Tech, Jacksonville, Miami, North Florida, Palm Beach Atlantic, Pasco Hernando CC, Saint Leo, South Florida, St. Thomas, Stetson, Tampa, Webber
Mountain Dew Invitational History
Past Five Year's Champions (Team Champion, Race Winner, Winner's School)
Men:
2005: Florida; Henok Lechebo, Florida (23:53.81)
2006: Florida; Jeremy Criscione, Florida (24:22.48)
2007: Florida; Enoch Nadler, Florida (24:48.73)
2008: Florida; Jeremy Criscione, Florida (24:38.75)
2009: Florida; Evans Kirwa, Embry-Riddle (24:21.10)
Past Five Year's Champions (Team Champion, Race Winner, Winner's School)
Women:
2005: Florida; Allison Mascas, Tampa (17:16.62)
2006: Florida; Lindsay Sundell, Florida (17:36.54)
2007: Florida; Friend Juhl, Unattached (17:36.99)
2008: Florida; Genevieve LaCaze, Florida (17:34.79)
2009: Florida; Charlotte Browning, Florida (17:25.08)
Gator Invitational/Mountain Dew Invite All-Time Top Times
Women:
1. Allison Mascas, Tampa 17:16.62 2005
2. Becki Wells, Florida 17:23.50 1995
3. Charlotte Browning, Florida 17:25.08 2009
4. Jill Steffens, Georgia 17:25.39 2004
5.Melanie Schultz, Miami 17:25.92 2005
Men:
1. Henok Lechebo , Florida 23:53.81 2005
2. Zepherinus Joseph, N. Florida 24:06.66 2002
3. Steven Hassen, Florida 24:11.87 2005
4. Evans Kirwa, Embry-Riddle 24:21.10 2009
5. Jeremy Criscione, Florida 24:21.69 2005
Results from each race will be posted on www.GatorZone.com as soon as available. Be sure to follow live updates for the Gators on twitter @GatorZonexCntry.
