Spartans Win Season Opener at USF Invite
TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa women's cross country team took home a first-place performance at the University of South Florida Invitational to open the 2013 season. The Spartan men also competed and placed fifth.
UT took the women's 5K over Saint Leo and Embry-Riddle as the men's race was won by Embry-Riddle.
Courtney Ragan was the top runner for UT's women, placing fifth with a time of 17:32.79. Freshman Claudia Cancello was seventh with a showing of 17:39.74 as Chantalle Blundell was eighth at 17:41.13. Kelly Hagan (18:12.29) and Vanessa Righeimer placed 18th and 19th respectively to round out the UT lineup.
Also running for head coach Jarrett Slaven's women were Brianna Jackson (18:24.08), Danielle Kissel (18:28.77), Elaina Cancello (18:33.61), Ronni Mercier (18:36.66), Jessie Luttenschlager (19:14.49), Kaitlyn Martin (19:36.49), Sarah Waller (20:27.62), Rose Bastian (20:32.75), Aimee Epps (20:42.20) and Tori Ehrhardt (21:37.42).
Senior Mike Zwijacz was the top runner for the UT men, finishing 15th with a time of 15:17.11. Geremy DeWitt (15:23.86), Matt Hoffman (15:36.33), Cory Munsch (15:40.02), Jessie Boria (16:10.83), Steven Dennig (16:26.02), Brendan McGonagle (16:46.45) and Kyle Taylor (16:53.04) also ran for the Spartans.
UT is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Mountain Dew Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. The University of Florida will serve as the host.
Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.