Complete Friday and Saturday Schedule | Spectator Resources
TAMPA - The University of South Florida women's cross country team will compete for the second week in a row Saturday morning when the squad makes the short trip up to Orlando for the Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic.
The women's 5k race will start at 8:30 a.m. The two-day meet features middle school, high school and college races at Disney's Wide World of Sports® Complex.
"This will give some of our newcomers a chance to run for the first time this season," said assistant coach Dena Reif. "It will also give our 'B' runners the chance to improve their personal bests after training for seven weeks and get them prepared to possibly earn a spot on our conference squad."
The Bulls find themselves in the middle of a three-week stretch of competition after running at the Paul Short Invitational last Friday at Lehigh. The women took 28th in the top-tier gold division, while the men's team finished 14th in the middle-tier brown division.
Sophomore Nicole Rozario had the top time for the Bulls for the third time in three meets in 2009, as she ran the 6k in 21:24, finishing 39th out of a total 363 runners. Rozario was also the top finisher for USF at the Mountain Dew Invitational Sept. 18 and the University of Tampa Invitational Sept. 4.
She was followed by sophomores Yasmin Smith, Allie Prendergast and Jen Wynands, who went 2-3-4 for the Bulls. The trio has finished in the second through fourth spots for USF in all three meets.
The women stand 11th in the South Region in the latest USTFCCCA cross country rankings released Monday.
"For the women who ran last year, their goal for this year's meet is to eclipse that time," said Reif.
On the men's side, senior Ryan Courtoy grabbed the top spot for USF in the 8k, finishing with a time of 26:09 to rank 53rd out of 323 runners. Junior Pedro Carela, freshman Felix Soto and sophomore Phillip Wise rounded out the top 4 for the Bulls.
Courtoy also earned top billing for the men's team at the UT Invite, while Wise had the best overall time at the Mountain Dew Invite.
USF will run one last time before the BIG EAST Championships at the end of the month when the Bulls participate in the Stetson Invitational Oct. 16 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
