Hurricanes Wrap Up Mountain Dew Invite

Sept. 20, 2008

Men’s Results  | Women’s Results 

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Miami cross country competed in the Mountain Dew Invitational Saturday morning on the campus of the University of Florida. As a team, the women finished in sixth place while the men finished ninth.

Senior Ena Leufroy and freshman Anna Bona finished back-to-back in the 5K race with times of 19:14.39 and 19:16.01 as the top finishers for the women in 26th and 27 place respectively. Of the 125 runners sophomore Emma Steppe came in 46th place at 19:52.33.

“Ena and Anna utilized the pack very well to significantly drop their times this week,” said associate cross country coach, Damon Griffiths.

Also scoring for Miami were Katharine Woodard, Monika Freiser, Page Price and Jackie Sullivan.

“The women ran very well. It was a great team showing for us,” added Griffiths. “They showed that the weeks of preparation are starting to pay off.”

All seven scorers for the University of Florida finished in the top 10 as Genevieve LaCaze was the top finisher for the Gators, leading them to the team title. Of the 14 teams. Miami finished sixth with an overall score of 195.

Senior Vincent Giambanco finished with a team-best time of 27:23.63 on the 8K course. Senior Tim Harris also finished under the 28 minute mark with a time of 27:46.58. Freshman Michael Viklund was the third Hurricane to cross the finish line, followed by Eric Miller. Patrick O’Donnell, Matthew Wilson and Jules Rosen finished back-to-back-to-back to round out the scoring for the team that finished in ninth place.

“The men showed promise, but we still have a lot of work to do before the conference meets start,” said Griffiths. “However, it was good to see Vince (Giambanco) run such a strong race in his first action of the year.”

As the case with the women, the host Florida team won the team competition. Jeremy Criscione ran a 24:38.75 to win the overall title, while his team took the top seven spots.

The Hurricanes will have a week off from competition before they return to action at the Florida Runner Invitational In Tittusville, Fla. on Saturday, Oct. 4.