Marquette Wins C-USA Women's Cross Country Meet; South Florida Claims Men's Title

Maru wins women's individual, Kandie is men's champion

ST. LOUIS - Marquette's women's team and South Florida's men's team claimed first place in the team standings at the 2000 Conference USA Cross Country Championship held Saturday morning at Forest Park in St. Louis. Marquette's women placed five runners in the top 14 for 44 points to edge South Florida's total of 56. USF's men's team claimed five of the top 17 finishers and tallied 44 points while Tulane recorded 91 points to come in second.

Runners from Tulane swept the individual championships as sophomore Theresa Maru won the women's 6K with a time of 21:06.93 and TU junior Solomon Kandie was victorious in the men's 8K with a time of 24:32.53. Brianna Dahm from Marquette was named the Conference USA Women's Freshman of the Year with a time of 22:13.60, which was good for 12th place overall. Charlotte's Ian Dickinson clocked a 24:55.55, which placed him seventh overall in the men's field.

Marquette's Dave Uhrich was named Conference USA Women's Coach of the Year while South Florida's Kelly Phillips was named Conference USA Men's Coach of the Year.

In the women's meet, Tulane came home in third, with Cincinnati, Houston and Louisville right behind. Charlotte finished seventh, with DePaul eighth and UAB ninth. Saint Louis and Southern Miss tied for 10th place and Memphis was 12th.

For the men, Charlotte finished third and Marquette and DePaul were fourth and fifth, respectively. Cincinnati was sixth, followed by Houston, Louisville, Saint Louis and Memphis.