Oct. 18, 2008

Chili Pepper Women's Individual Results

Chili Pepper Women's Team Results

Chili Pepper Men's Individul Results

Chili Pepper Men's Team Results

Bronco Invitational Men's and Women's Results

(Fayetteville, AR) - Michelle Born and Ganbileg Bor led USF's women's and men's cross country teams with personal best races at the Chili Pepper Invitational, hosted by the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.

Born led the women to a ninth place finish out of the 39 team field in the 6k race. She finished 23rd overall, in 21:25.45, a new personal best.

"Michelle ran a solid race up front for us today," said head coach Helen Lehman-Winters. "She competed very well in an elite field. She is very fit and is getting better with each meet and will be ready to roll at the conference championships in two weeks and the NCAA Regionals in a month."

Sophomore Laurel Kleiber finished 40th with a time of 21:53.21, sophomore Nicole Bowler finished 71st in 22:27.58, freshman Sophia Ditty came in 90th in 22:43.38, followed immediately by freshman Haley Nemra (91st) in 22:44.20 to round out the top five. Freshman Hillary Kigar finished 127th in 23:11.16, and junior Mary Verran finished 161st with a time of 23:40.13.

"Laurel turned in a clutch performance and ran a personal best of 21:53," said Lehman-Winters. "Nicole made significant improvement and Haley is starting to adjust to racing at this level."

In the 39-team field, Texas Tech won the team race with 72 points. Arkansas was second with 101 points and SMU rounded out the top three with 139 points. Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech (defending NCAA champion) ran away from field in 19:26.91.

"Our women competed well in a very competitive and large field. This women's team is a young group-with two freshmen and two sophomores in our top five, so I am pleased with how they ran the first 3k of the race. We just need to carry that momentum deeper into the race and work on finishing harder."

Bor led the men to a 13th place finish out of 30 teams in the 10k race. The freshman ran the fastest 10K time in USF history finishing 52nd in 31:04.41, eclipsing Cheyne Inman's time of 31:38 that he ran at the NCAA Regionals last year.

Freshman Jeremy Grace also finished under the 32 minute mark, coming in 82nd with a time of 31:57.97. Sophomore Jesus Romo finished 108th in 32:27.26, freshman Thomas Estrada followed in 32:49.84 (121st), and sophomore Joshua Horeled rounded out USF's top five with a time of 32:59.22 (132nd). Freshman Will Marquardt finished 158th in 33:39.96.

"This was a high quality men's field," said Lehman-Winters. "Our men's team is super young- composed of all freshmen and a couple sophomores. I am pleased with how they handled there first ever 10K. Bor was very impressive as he moved up mid way through the race and ran aggressively to the finish. Grace also ran solid cracking the 32 minute barrier."

Texas A&M topped the 30-team field with 52 points. The Razorbacks were a close second with 75 points and Lamar rounded out the top three with 120 points.

(Sunnyvale, CA) - Junior Alice Hobbs finished fourth (18:52) in the Santa Clara Open's 5k race, leading USF women to a third place finish. Sophomore Arianna Edwards took 17th with a time of 19:40, sophomore Carly Holman came in 19th at 19:43, sophomore Hannah O'Neal finished 22nd in 20:02, and freshman Shannon Jensen rounded out the top five, finishing 41st in 21:05.

Freshman Tyler Alvarez led the men's side to a 10th place finish in the open, coming in 51st at 25:54. Sophomore Ravi Amarawansa finished 57th at 26:03, freshman Michael Barnes came in 60th with a time of 26:05, freshman Devin Hopkins finished 71st in 26:10, and freshman Steven Garboden rounded out the scoring five, finishing 84th in 26:26. Sophomore Byron Williams came in 112th with a time of 27:16, and freshman Colin Hopkins finished 132nd in 28:40.

Senior Alex Nelson ran attached, finishing 19th in the men's 8k race with a time of 25:16.

USF returns to action in two weeks for the West Coast Conference Championships at Crystal Springs in Belmont, CA.