C-USA Cross Country Notebook

Philip Aagaard

A trio of C-USA cross country athletes won individual titles over the weekend, while four league schools brought home team championships from respective events. DePaul's Leah Rygh was the lone individual champion on the women's side, taking first place in the 5K race at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. On the men's side, Tulane's Philip Aagaard won the UNO Invitational for the second time in his career and Louisville's Wesley Korir continued his early season dominance with his fourth-straight win at the Cardinal Classic.

2004 CONFERENCE USA CROSS COUNTRY

C-USA ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Female Athlete of the Week
Leah Rygh – DePaul (Sr., Montgomery, Ill.)

Rygh won the 32nd annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Saturday covering the 5K-course in 17:24, just two seconds ahead of Marquette’s Heidi Lindeman. Rygh has been the top Blue Demon finisher in each of DePaul’s three races this season.

Male Athlete of the Week
Philip Aagaard – Tulane (Jr., Linkoping, Sweden)

Aagaard cruised to victory at the UNO Invitational for the second time in his career as he led Tulane to the team title. The junior finished the three-mile course in 15:26.46.

NOTING CONFERENCE USA CROSS COUNTRY

WOMEN
CHARLOTTE took 12th place at the Nike Race of Champions at the Great American Cross Country Festival. The prestigious race featured a field of eight teams ranked that finished ahead of the 49ers. TSEHAYE DAGNACHEW was the top 49er-finisher taking 38th out of 154 runners (18:15.08, 5K) ... CINCINNATI finished third in the Gold Division at the Notre Dame Invitational. Senior RUTH LIMO once again led the Bearcats with a third-place finish covering the 5K course in 18:13 … DE PAUL placed 12th out of 24 teams at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. The Blue Demons got a pair of top-10 finishes out of race champion LEAH RYGH and ninth-place finisher ERIN MOFFETT. Rygh, whose winning time of 17:24 was a season best, has been the top Blue Demon finisher in three-consecutive races this season … EAST CAROLINA finished sixth in the Seeded University race at the Great America Cross Country Festival on Friday. Senior JOHANNA ALLEN placed second overall in the seeded division with a time of 18:13.88 (5K). JESSICA COLLINS notched her top finish of the season, taking sixth in 18:45.54 … HOUSTON finished sixth at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Invitational. Senior JESSICA OAKES competed for the first time this season leading the Cougars with a 21st-place time of 19:09 in the 5K race ... LOUISVILLE hosted the Cardinal 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 fourth-consecutive race finishing in 20th. Ruberg ran the 5K course in 20:29.07 … MARQUETTE captured the team title at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational as sophomore HEIDI LINDEMAN paced the 29th-ranked Golden Eagles with a second-place finish. Lindeman finished the 5K course in 17:26 just two seconds behind meet champion LEAH RYGH of DePaul … MEMPHIS and SAINT LOUIS both took the weekend off and return to compete against each other at the Saluki Invitational next Saturday … SOUTHERN MISS won its third team title of the season at the UNO Invitational. Senior CASSANDRA GOODSON won the 5K race in 18:01.77 as she outdistanced the second-place finisher by 17 seconds. The Golden Eagles placed six of their seven runners inside the Top 10. BECCA ROP (18:33.82) and DIJANA KOJIC (18:41.33) took third and fourth, respectively in the race … TCU finished seventh among 18 teams at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday. Sophomore CALANDRA STEWART placed 22nd overall with a time of 18:34 over the 5K course … TULANE split into a pair of teams for the weekend, sending its top six runners to the Notre Dame Invitational, while the remainder of the team competed at the UNO Invitational. Freshman RACHEL BRYAN ran a season-best time of 18:30 in the 5K course at Notre Dame to lead the squad for the fourth-consecutive week and to an 11th-place finish in the Gold Division. The team at the UNO Invitational took fourth overall led by freshman ASHLEY PORTER, who made her collegiate debut finishing the 5K course in 19:56.78 … UAB finished 16th in the women’s Blue Division at the 46th annual Notre Dame Invitational on Friday. Sophomore ELIZABETH AMBRUS once again led the Blazers with a 23rd-place finish. Ambrus clocked a time of 17:26 on the 5K course. Freshman ELIZABETH HILLIOGOSS set a new personal best with a time of 17:53 … USF placed 15th in the Nike Race of Champions Division at the Great American Cross Country Festival. CHRISTA BENTON paced the Bulls with a 32nd-place finish, while running the 5K course in 18:10.35. JESSICA HELLENDER finished just outside the top 50 taking 53rd in 18:33.80.

Previous Female Athletes of the Week
S7 – Rachel Bryan (Tulane)
S14 – Jodi Jakubek (Marquette)
Elizabeth Ambrus (UAB)
S21 – Elizabeth Ambrus (UAB)
S28 – Jane Daniels (Charlotte)

MEN
CHARLOTTE placed 13th in the Nike Race of Champions Division at the Great American Cross Country Festival. The 19-team field included five teams ranked in the latest USCCCA/Mondo Top 25 poll. ED SCHLICHTER placed 22nd overall finishing the 8K course in 25:17.65 … CINCINNATI finished 16th in the Gold Division at the Notre Dame Invitational where defending national champion Stanford also competed. KEVIN SCHWARZ was the top Bearcat finisher taking 82nd … DE PAUL placed 15th out of 25 teams at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Saturday. ANTHONY BECKNEK led the squad with a 50th-place finish out of 249 competitors. He finished the 8K course in 25:44 ... EAST CAROLINA finished second in the Seeded University Division at the Great American Cross Country Festival. Senior MATT HANLON finished in third place with a time of 25:39.49 in the 8K race ... HOUSTON finished in 17th place in the Gold Division at the Notre Dame Invitational. The race featured nine teams currently ranked in the Top 25. The Cougars’ top runner was junior SESAR FIGUEROA, who finished in 55th with a time of 24:44 … LOUISVILLE won its fourth-straight team title at the Cardinal Classic as redshirt freshman WESLEY KORIR once again captured the individual title. The Eldoret, Kenya, native is a perfect 4-0 in races this season and covered the 8K course in 25:24. Korir led a group of five Cardinals, who all finished in the Top Six … MARQUETTE placed eighth at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. BRENT DES ROCHES led the Golden Eagles to the finish line for the third-straight race with an eighth-place finish. His time of 24:46 was the top 8K time turned in by a C-USA athlete this week. … SAINT LOUIS took the weekend off and will return to action Saturday at the Saluki Invitational … TCU placed 17th among 21 teams in the university division at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree. Freshman MATT MANLY was the Horned Frogs’ top finisher placing 50th in the 8K race with a time of 26:!5 … TULANE won the UNO Invitational behind the solid running of junior PHILIP AAGAARD. The junior, who won the same race in 2001, turned in a time of 15:26 to win the three-mile race … USF finished 19th in the Nike Race of Champions Division at the Great American Cross Country Festival. RYAN THOMAS (27:22.31, 8K) was the Bulls top finisher taking 118th place, while DEREK LINCOLN (27:41.15, 8K) finished in 122nd.

Previous Male Athletes of the Week
S7 – Wesley Korir (Louisville)
S14 – Brent Des Roches (Marquette)
S21 – Kevin Schwarz (Cincinnati)
S28 – Wesley Korir (Louisville)

Conference USA Cross Country results from all previous races should be available online, Wednesday, Oct. 6, at www.flashresults.com/flashtexas