Spartans Among Top Teams At USF Open

TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa cross country team ran in its second race of the season, with its women finishing third and men fourth at the USF Open at The Claw. The race was hosted by the University of South Florida.

Tampa's women finished behind champion and host South Florida along with Florida Atlantic. Florida and Embry-Riddle followed Tampa to make up the top-five. Nova Southeastern, Florida International, Miami, Central Florida, Florida Southern, Saint Leo, Pasco-Hernando CC and Webber International also competed.

The men's race was won by Florida, who had four of its five top-runners finish in the top-10. Miami and Embry-Riddle finished ahead of the Spartans as Nova Southeastern, South Florida, Florida International, Florida Southern, Florida Atlantic, Webber International and Saint Leo.

For the second straight meet of the season, Kaia Hampton led all UT women with a 13th-place finish after a time of 18:28.19. Katie O'Brien (16th, 18:40.70), Jess Butler (20th, 18:51.09), Heather Nicolosi (22nd, 19:01.06) and Lindsay Edwards (31st, 19:24.33) were also among the first five Spartans to cross the finish line.

Rose Bishop (37th, 19:36.46), Kelly Hagan (39th, 19:37.36), Christa McLeod (54th, 20:09.49), Courtney Ragan (61st, 20:16.46), Hailey Smith (70th, 20:26.03), Iolani Scanlan (80th, 20:52.49), Liz Anthony (86th, 21:07.58), Jessie Luttenschlager (88th, 21:20.56), Jenna Edwards (92nd, 21:27.58), Danielle Stanley (93rd, 21:27.97), Abby Patterson (97th, 21:39.17), Natalie Herzberg (102nd, 21:57.74), Aimee Epps (108th, 22:42.57), Patricia Gillezeau (114th, 23:00.92) and Kaitlin Kearney (133rd, 25:13.03) also ran for UT.

Charles Toledo was the first Spartan from its men's team to cross the finish line, placing 14th (26:20.39) overall. Peter Orgass (23rd, 26:47.82), Kevin Lane (25th, 26:55.02), Tory Webb (32nd, 27:14.20) and Zachary Scott (37th, 27:21.67) joined Toledo in UT's top-five.

Also racing for Tampa's men were Eddie Paniccia (42nd, 27:36.48), Mike Leone (55th, 28:03.39), Jake Bailey (56th, 28:04.66), Lewis Price (60th, 28:12.15), Steven Dennig (64th, 28:19.28), Kyle Taylor (65th, 28:22.20) and Bryan Garcia (78th, 29:02.06).

Tampa returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Florida State University Invite in Tallahassee, Fla.

Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.