Gators Set to Race at Notre Dame Invitational, Florida State Invitational on Friday
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 | Cross Country
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida men's and women's cross country teams will split up and compete in a pair of meets this Friday.
While the day will begin with a group of Gators running at the Florida State Invitational, their top nine men's and women's runners will race at the historic Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, where they can earn at-large points toward a potential NCAA Championships berth.
This will be Florida's sixth trip to the Notre Dame Invitational since the turn of the century, with its last appearance coming in 2009.
The deep field traveling to South Bend, Ind. gives the Gators a chance to see where they stack up among some of the nation's top teams. On the men's side, six of the 21 clubs are ranked, while two more received votes in the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll. Four of the 24 women's teams check in at No. 22 or higher in the poll, including top-ranked New Mexico.
Florida's contingent of runners heading to Tallahassee, Fla. will represent the program's fourth appearance at the Florida State Invitational since 2002. The Gators last trekked to the state's capital for this event in 2010.
The Gators' most recent race was two weeks ago at the Mountain Dew Invitational, their lone home meet of the year. Florida's men, led by redshirt senior Eddie Garcia's first career individual title, took runner-up honors, while the women had the top three collegiate finishers—Becky Greene, Taylor Tubbs, Maria Larsen—to take first place as a team.
MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)
· Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Women's Race (5k): 2:00 p.m.
o Gators Competing: Elisabeth Bergh, Lauren Brasure, Becky Greene, Maria Larsen, Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell, Maddox Patterson, Meg Schloss, Delaney Tiernan, Taylor Tubbs
· Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Men's Race (5 Miles): 2:45 p.m.
o Gators Competing: Jack Beitter, Charles Chambers, Jimmy Clark, Eddie Garcia, Jack Guyton, Seamus Love, Carlos Miranda, Magnus Pettersen, Mac Reynolds
· Florida State Invitational Men's Race (8k): 7:40 a.m.
o Gators Competing: Elliot Clemente, Trey LaNasa, Mac Macoy, Mark Mutz, Jack Rogers, Bryce Statham, Connor Vaughan
· Florida State Invitational Women's Race (5k): 8:20 a.m.
o Gators Competing: Autumn Bartlett, Emily Chapman, Jenny Coleman, Amber Johnson, Devin McDermott, Madison Morse, Julie Wollrath, Gabrielle Yatauro
· Meet Results: Florida State Invitational; Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational
MEET HISTORIES
· Florida's men have finished sixth or higher in three of its five trips to the Notre Dame Invitational, including a third-place finish in 2005 and a tie for fourth in 2006
· The Gator women posted top-five finishes in each of their last two appearances in South Bend, Ind., highlighted by its third-place finish in 2009
· Florida's men have taken second place in each of its previous three trips to the Florida State Invitational, while the women's team boasts a pair of fourth-place finishes (2002, 2009) and a fifth-place finish (2010)
COACH SPANGLER SPEAKS
Florida assistant cross country coach Paul Spangler on what this weekend means for the team: “If we go out and perform well, obviously, it helps our chances of making (the NCAA Championship) if we need to rely on at-large points. It's certainly not a do-or-die weekend, but it's one that we want to run well. It's important for us.”
On what the goal is for the group running at the Notre Dame Invitational: “Beat some teams that are ranked ahead of us, beat some teams that—on paper—have a good shot at getting to the NCAA Championships from their regions.”
On whether there's a different approach to a meet with numerous ranked teams: “We have to run our race. We will go into it with a different race strategy than we've had the last two meets. Our last two meets were pretty low-key, in terms of competition. For a meet like this, we have to go into it with a pretty precise race plan.”
On freshman Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell's 25th-place finish at the World Mountain Running Championships, which forced her to miss the Mountain Dew Invitational: “It's good to have her back. It gives us more depth and makes us a better team. For us, anytime we have an opportunity for an athlete to compete for their country, it's something we encourage and promote.
“It was a great opportunity for her to represent her country, and an opportunity for her to represent the University of Florida. That's always important for us and our international athletes to have that opportunity. It's something we want to support.”
NOTRE DAME INIVITATIONAL TEAMS LISTING
| Men's Teams | Women's Teams |
| No. 18 Arizona State | Arizona State |
| Bradley | Bradley |
| No. 26 Colorado State | Butler |
| No. 28 Eastern Kentucky | Clemson |
| Eastern Michigan (RV) | Colorado State |
| Florida | Eastern Kentucky |
| Illinois State | Eastern Michigan |
| Indiana State | Florida |
| Iowa | Idaho State |
| IUPUI | Illinois State |
| Missouri | Iowa |
| Navy | Miami (Ohio) |
| No. 27 N.C. State | Missouri |
| No. 17 New Mexico | No. 14 N.C. State |
| Notre Dame | No. 1 New Mexico |
| Penn | Northwestern |
| Purdue | No. 20 Notre Dame |
| No. 23 Southern Utah | Penn |
| Texas A&M | Purdue (RV) |
| UC Santa Barbara | SMU |
| UTEP (RV) | Texas A&M |
| Utah | |
| UTEP | |
| No. 22 Vanderbilt |
FLORIDA STATE INVITATIONAL DIVISION I TEAMS LISTING
| Men's Teams | Women's Teams |
| Florida | Florida |
| Florida Atlantic | Florida A&M |
| Florida State (RV) | Florida Atlantic |
| Jacksonville | Florida State |
| Miami (Fla.) | Jacksonville |
| South Florida | Miami (Fla.) |
| Stetson | South Florida |
| Stetson | |
| UCF |
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