USF Women Finish Eighth While Men Place 12th at Penn State National Meet

The USF men’s and women’s cross country teams were back in action today, after a week off, as they took part in the 35th annual Penn State University National Meet held at the Penn State Blue/White Golf Course.

On the women’s side the Bulls finished eighth, out of a field of 19, with 257 points while putting two runners in the top 15 and three in the top 50 of the 225 runner field. One of the top meets in America year in and year out, the women’s field featured five teams ranked in the top 30 in the country.

Christa Benton (St. Petersburg, FL/Keswick Christian) paced USF running the 6K course in a time of 21:59.91. Bente General (Itzehoe, Germany/Auguste-Victoria-Sdiule) took 13th in a time of 21:17.80 while Jessica Hellender (Cooper City, FL/Cooper City) rounded out the Bulls three top 50 runners finishing 41st in 21:59.91.

Other USF finishers were Sara Hall (Plant City, FL/Plant City) finishing in 23:42.61 (125th), Kristen Poulos (Grand Blanc, MI/Goodrich) ran the course in 23:47.99 (129th), Maggie Potter (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) in 25:19.23 (169th), and Minoo Mostafavifar (Tampa, FL/Wharton) in 26:49.25 (195th).

In men’s action the Bulls finished the 5.2-mile race in 12th, out of 20 teams, with 302 points.

Sean Burris (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) led USF with a 21st place finish in 26:35.86 and Adam Chumbley (Port Charlotte, FL/Port Charlotte) took 42nd in 27:15.19.

Other USF runners taking part were Derek Lincoln (Toronto, Canada/Hagen Court) finishing 63rd in the 218 runner field with a time of 27:47.46 and Chris Cox (Winter Park, FL/Edgewater) finished 103rd in 28:33.64.

Andrew Charles (Orlando, FL/Orange County) rounded out the Bulls’ runners in 153rd with a time of 30:25.63.

“We were extremely pleased with the way our runners ran today,” said head track and field/cross country coach Greg Thiel. “We really pointed to this meet as one to get ready for the Conference USA Championships. When you run in those types of events you try to stay in a pack and run as a team and that was our goal today. To let our experience runners get out and pull the younger ones along – and through five kilometers in the women’s race that’s exactly what happened. We are just very happy with the both our men’s and women’s teams.”

Up next for the Bulls, following next weekend off, will be the Conference USA Championships which the “Green and Gold” will host at the USF Golf Course on November 1.