Spartan Women Take UT Early Bird Classic Behind Woznicki
VALRICO, Fla. - The University of Tampa women's cross country team captured the title at the UT Early Bird Classic, which was hosted by the Spartans at Brandon Trails. Laura Woznicki outran the competition as she won the women's 5K. The Spartan men also competed, placing third in their race.
UT's women finished with 20 points, defeating second place Florida Southern by 50 points. Spartan runners captured four of the top five spots, including the top three. Woznicki (18:10) was followed by Jessica Forrester (18:47) and Paige Williams (19:10) in the top three as fellow Spartan Julia Vola (19:37) finished fifth. Michelle Gabrielle sealed the UT victory as she crossed the finish line with a ninth place time of 19:53.
Other Spartan women who ran included Erin Heeder (10th, 20:07), Dara Fox (12th, 20:22), Sarah Nelson (16th, 20:29), Alysha Duffy (19th, 21:12), Leela Hadsock (25th, 21:35), Kathryn Cummins (33rd, 22:09), Amber Eisenberg (23:05), Laura Plaske (83rd, 26:15), Margaret Jackson (86th, 27:09) and D'Arcy Fellona (90th, 27:40).
Tony Nicolosi paced the UT men with a fifth place finish. Chris Catanach was sixth while other Spartan scorers were Matt Hockenjos (27th), Jeremy Lautzenheiser (30th) and David Forry (37th). The Spartan men finished third, behind Embry-Riddle (29) and Nova Southeastern (63) as Tampa had 89 points.
Other UT male runners included Gordon Wright (48th), Kevin Lane (53rd), Steven Cain (63rd), Joe Ranelli (65th), Ryan McCall (70th), Marsid Tushe (84th) and Raymon Cheng (85th).
Tampa returns to action on Saturday, September 22, as it travels to Tallahassee for the Florida State Invitational at the Greenbelt Parkway.