TAMPA - After placing second at the Early Bird Classic hosted by the University of Tampa, the University of South Florida men's and women's cross country teams will look to keep the momentum going Friday at the Mountain Dew Invitational at the University of Florida Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla.
The women are set to run the 5k at 6:30 p.m., while the men's 8k race will begin at 7 p.m.
"The team has been looking good at practice," said assistant coach Dena Reif. "They've had a solid week of practice, and they are feeling healthy, which is always important."
Last season at the meet, the women took second to the host Gators, while the men finished eighth. This year, Reif is looking to do just as well if not better.
"Since we finished second last year, we'd like to try to go for at least that if not the top spot," she said. "We'd also like to finish in the top five on the men's side, as we are stronger now than last year."
Both teams are coming off a successful first meet down in Brandon, Fla., at the Sydney Dover Trails, as the men and women each took second out of a total of nine teams in a race that was delayed due to lightning before the teams were finally able to compete.
Although Reif's squads finished in second, individual placements on the men's side are still unavailable.
Among USF participants, sophomore Nicole Rozario finished first on the team and second overall in a time of 18:37.9, while sophomore Allie Prendergast also finished under 19 minutes and took fourth at the meet with a mark of 18:55.1.
Sophomores Jen Wynands (19:21.6, 11th place), Yasmin Smith (19:36.0, 14th) and Devin Spoerle (19:59.2, 17th) rounded out the top 5 for the Bulls.
On the men's side, senior Ryan Courtoy and sophomore Phillip Wise finished 1-2 among the entire team, with Courtoy using a time of 16:24 to just edge out Wise, who completed the course in 16:26. Freshman Felix Soto and junior Pedro Carela were next with times of 16:38 and 16:44, respectively, while sophomore Lucas Simari and senior Robert Sudduth finished back-to-back in 16:54 and 16:55.
"This will be a good first test of where we rank in cross country in the state of Florida," said Reif.
Florida ranks 14th in the preseason USTFCCCA cross country rankings released Tuesday. Of the top 30 teams in the poll, the BIG EAST stands tied for first with the Big 10 with six teams in the poll.
Following Friday's invitational, the team will get another two-week break before heading even more north - Bethlehem, Pa., to be exact - for the Paul Short Invitational Oct. 2, as the women will run the 6k for the only time during the season before the BIG EAST Championships.
