University of North Florida
Florida Mountain Dew Invitational
Men Finish Third, Women Finish Sixth at UF Invitational
9/19/2009 2:02:57 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Track
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida men's and women's cross country teams competed in the University of Florida Mountain Dew Invitational on Friday evening. The men tallied 125 points en route to a third place finish while the women posted 156 points, finishing sixth out of a field of 23 teams.
For the men, sophomore Johnathan Esteban scored in 14th and crossed the line 18th out of the 198 runners in the 8k.
"On the men's side, Esteban continues to be a strong leader while James Post had a breakout race leading the rest of the men's pack across the line within 20 seconds of each other," said head coach Mark VanAlstyne.
Freshman James Post placed 28th (26:33.00), followed by sophomore Josh Brown in 35th (26:47.10), junior Will Pearce in 38th (26:55.50) and senior Sammy Palmer in 39th (26:56.70).
Of the 18 teams competing, all were from Florida. The men placed higher than Florida Atlantic, South Florida, Miami and Atlantic Sun foes Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson. The only teams to finish better than the men were Embry-Riddle and Florida who won for the fifth consecutive year.
The women also had a stand out performance as a team, besting in-state rivals FAU, FGCU, Miami, Florida State and Stetson in the 5k.
Once again freshman Shelby Kittrell finished on top for the Ospreys, crossing the line in 17th with a time of 18:40.34. Freshman Melanie Novack placed 30th (19:08.44) while sophomore Erin Heasley finished 34th (19:16.50).
"Shelby ran another really good race despite the ladies drawing a difficult starting box," said VanAlstyne. "Mel Novack also ran strong and will continue to improve with every race."
The Ospreys will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 10 when they travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for the Seminole Invitational.
