C-USA Cross Country Notebook

Jane Daniels

Charlotte captured the Asics Winthrop University Invitational on Saturday to pick up the lone team title for a C-USA school on the women's side this weekend, while the Louisville men raced to its third-straight team title in as many tries this season at the Greater Louisville Classic.

C-USA ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Female Athlete of the Week
Jane Daniels – Charlotte (Jr., Oostburg, Wis.)

Daniels’ fourth-place finish at the Asics/Winthrop University Invitational helped lead Charlotte to its first team title of the season. The junior covered the 5K-course in a season-best time of 18:07.

Male Athlete of the Week
Wesley Korir – Louisville (RFr., Eldoret, Kenya)

Korir won his third-straight individual title to help lead Louisville to the team title at the Greater Louisville Classic. Korir finished the 8K-course in 24:22.82. It was the third-consecutive team title for the Cardinals.


NOTING CONFERENCE USA CROSS COUNTRY

WOMEN
CHARLOTTE captured its first team title of the season at the Asics Winthrop Invitational. JANE DANIELS and TSEHAYE DAGNACHEW finished fourth and fifth, respectively to help lead the Niners to the team crown. Daniels covered the 5K-course in 18:07, while Dagnachew clocked an 18:10. ANDRIA CRAIG and AMELIA SLAGLE finished inside the top 20 to pick up valuable points for Charlotte ... CINCINNATI took the weekend off after capturing the Queen City Invitational on Sept. 17. The Bearcats will return to action at the Notre Dame Invitational this Friday (Oct.1) … DE PAUL did not compete after its second-place finish at the National Catholic Invitational at Notre Dame. The Blue Demons will next take part in the Sean Earl-Lake Front Invitational in Chicago on Saturday (Oct. 2) … EAST CAROLINA will host The Overton’s Pirate Invitational Saturday (Oct. 2) after taking a break from action last weekend. The Pirates placed second in the Adidas Raleigh Invitational prior to their weekend off … HOUSTON took the weekend off after returning from Hawaii where the Cougars placed third in the Big Wave Cross Country Invitational in Honolulu. Houston will compete in a pair of events this weekend with some runners racing at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Invitational (Oct. 1) while others will race at the Notre Dame Invitatioanal (Oct. 2) ... LOUISVILLE hosted the Greater Louisville Classic, but did not factor in the team standings due to only four runners finishing the race. Junior ASHLEY RUBERG was the top-Cardinal finisher for the third-consecutive race finishing in 63rd. Ruberg ran the 5K course in 19:43.35 … MARQUETTE turned in yet another solid performance at the Iona Meet of Champions in The Bronx, N.Y., as the 18th-ranked Golden Eagles placed second just behind No. 12 Wake Forest in the team standings. Junior JODI JAKUBEK led the way for the Golden Eagles as she placed ninth overall. Jakubek posted a time of 21:55.20 on the 6K-course, while freshman CASSIE PELLER was the next Marquette finisher in 17th (22:14.80) … MEMPHIS rebounded from a seventh-place finish at the Memphis Twilight Classic to capture third at the UALR Open. DANIELLE RIENDEAU was a big reason for that as the sophomore placed third in the 5K-race with a career-best time of 18:30. Four other Tigers placed inside the Top 25 and posted career-best finishes led by senior NORA NEMERE who took 17th in 20:16. … SAINT LOUIS took fifth place in the Cross Country Only National Championships at Edwardsville, Ill. The meet featured schools from across the country that sponsor cross country without the support of a track program. Sophomore ANISSA REYNOLDS was the top-Billiken finisher in 15th. Reynolds covered the 6K course in 24:14.37 … SOUTHERN MISS will return to action at the UNO Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 2) and take aim at its third-consecutive team title. The Golden Eagles have been off for two weeks after Hurricane Ivan cancelled their meet last weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala. … TCU will run in the Cowboy Jamboree hosted by Oklahoma State on Saturday (Oct. 2). The Harrier Frogs took the weekend off after placing second at the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 18 … TULANE finished second in the 12-team LSU Invitational. Freshman RACHEL BRYAN once again led the Green Wave charge, finishing second among the 93 runners. Bryan posted a time of 22:19.93 in the 6K-race. Fellow rookie Aubrey Phillips placed fifth recording a time of 22:46.53 … UAB and two-time C-USA Athlete of the Week ELIZABETH AMBRUS had the weekend off after Ambrus captured her second-straight individual title and led the Blazers to the overall team title at the Old Timers Classic in Bowling Green, Ky. The Blazers will be one of three C-USA schools fielding teams at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday (Oct. 1) … USF competed at the Flrunners.com Invite despite another hurricane threatening the state of Florida. The Bulls’ “B” team ran at the event and placed ninth at the invitational held at Ed Radice Park. Leading USF was MAGGIE POTTER, who placed 35th, while teammate CHRISTINE MARTIN took 39th. Both USF squads will return to action this Friday (Oct. 1) in Raleigh, N.C., at the Great American Cross Country Festival.

MEN
CHARLOTTE placed fourth in the team standings at the Asics Winthrop Invitational. ED SCHLICHTER finished fourth among the 82 runners at the event to post his third Top 10 finish of the season. Schlichter covered the 8K-course in 25:04. RUSSELL SLADE (16th) and NICK SUNSERI (18th) posted Top 20-finishes for the Niners … CINCINNATI enjoyed a weekend off after the Bearcats’ dominating performance at the Queen City Invitational. UC runners took each of the top eights spots led by individual champion KEVIN SCHWARZ. The Bearcats will return to action Friday (Oct. 1) at the Notre Dame Invitational … DE PAUL took a break from action after placing fifth at the National Catholic Cross Country Championships on Sept. 17. The Blue Demons stay in the Windy City this weekend for the Sean Earl-Lake Front Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 2) ... EAST CAROLINA will host the Overton’s Pirate Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 2) after taking the weekend off. The Pirates are coming off a runner-up finish at the Adidas Raleigh Invitational ... HOUSTON had the weekend to relax after returning from its team victory at the University of Hawaii's Big Wave Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 18. The Cougars will be busier this weekend as the team will send runners to both the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Invitational on Friday (Oct. 1) and the Notre Dame Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 2). … LOUISVILLE won its third-straight team title to open the season and the Cardinals were once again paced by redshirt freshman WESLEY KORIR. The Eldoret, Kenya, native won his third-straight invididual title covering the 8K-course in 24:22.82. Korir led a group of four Cardinals, who all finished in the Top 10 … MARQUETTE placed eighth at the Iona Meet of Champions and were led by the ninth-place finish of BRENT DES ROCHES. It was the second-straight race Des Roches led the squad … TULANE finished fourth at the LSU Invitational. Junior PHILIP AAGAARD led the Green Wave for the third-straight meet this season and has been the team’s top finisher in eight of its last 10 races. Aagaard placed 18th just ahead of teammates KEVIN MARTES (20th) and TYLER CHAPMAN (21st) … SAINT LOUIS placed sixth at the Cross Country Only National Championships in Edwardsville, Ill. The race features schools who support cross country without the benefit of a track program. JOE PORTER was the top Billiken finisher. Porter ran the 8K-race in 27:27.50. DAN HERMAN also picked up a Top 20-finish posting a time of 27:46.51 to finish 18th … TCU took the weekend off as well following its sixth-place finish at the Texas A&M Invitational. The Horned Frogs will be in action on Saturday (Oct. 2) at the Cowboy Jamboree hosted by Oklahoma State … USF has competed just once in the opening month of the season. The Bulls had a scheduled break this weekend after their meet at Tuscaloosa last weekend was lost to Hurricane Ivan. Both USF squads will return to action this Friday (Oct. 1) in Raleigh, N.C., at the Great American Cross Country Festival.

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