XC Runs Personal Bests at Mountain Dew Invitational
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman Ryley Howard continued her incredible start as a Canes cross country runner setting another personal record and a top 10 finish in Miami program history at the Mountain Dew Invitational.
Howard was the first Cane to cross the finish line for the women’s team for the third-straight meet. Howard’s time of 18:32.37 in the 5K gives her the 10th fastest 5K time in Canes history, passing Jamie Heffner’s time of 18:44.44 set in 1998.
“Ryley continues to impress me with her consistent performances no matter how she may be feeling,” distance coach Damon Griffiths said. “She ran another personal best and an all-time top 10 performance today.”
Anne den Otter’s time of 18:53, Abigail Kettle’s time of 19:01, Olivia Raymond’s time of 19:53, and Emma Langlois’s time of 20:01 were all personal bests this season. Lauren Locke and Daria Pietropaolo closed out the Canes women’s runners.
Sophomore Dylan Sykes, again, had the top finish for the men’s side for the third straight meet. Sykes finished 24th with a time of 25:39 and was able to shed more than three minutes off his time from last weekend’s 8K time at the UCF Knight Invite.
“Dylan has made gigantic progress in a year,” Griffiths said. He improved over two minutes and 70 positions. This shows his commitment to the process.”
Junior Matthew Wiefels produced another strong finish just behind Sykes to finish second for the third time this season. Wiefels’ time of 26:49 was almost two minutes faster than last week’s time in Orlando.
The two freshmen, James Hasell and Sam Fleischman, both recorded season highs in the 8K on Saturday morning, cutting over two minutes off their previous times. Taj Bland closed out the Canes runners with a time of 30:21.
Miami has three weeks to prepare for their next race in Tampa, Fla., at the USF Invitational.
“We have time to make corrections needed to reach our goals before the next race,” Griffiths said. “We did a lot of good things today, leaving with several personal bests and competed well.”
For more information on the 2018 cross country schedule, click here.
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