The Florida men's cross country team had a record day as they finished ninth at the Notre Dame Invitational Friday evening at Burke Memorial Golf Course in South Bend, Ind. All but one member of the men's team finished in career-best times, with four of the top five running times under 25 minutes. The women's team did not fare as well as a team, as they finished 21st, but several individual ran career-best times against some of the best teams in the country.
The Florida men's cross country team finished ninth of 24 teams in the 8K race. The Gators scored 258 team points. No unranked team to finish above Florida. Senior Steve Zieminski was Florida's top finisher in 15th place overall with a career-best time of 23:59. That is the fourth fastest 8K time in school history. Only Chris Wilson and All-Americans Keith Brantly and Mike Blaney have run faster times. It was also the first sub-24:00 time run by a member of the Florida Cross Country team since Wilson ran 23:46.17 on Oct. 30, 1993. Senior Cory Presnick was Florida's second finisher in 40th place with a time of 24:32. Sophomore Ryder Leary finished in under 25 minutes for the first time in his career with a time of 24:44 to finish 59th overall. Freshman Henok Lechebo was Florida's fourth finisher in 71st place with a time of 24:52. Freshman Scott Hans rounded out the scoring for Florida with a 84th place finish in 25:04. Senior Brent Schneider, freshman Enoch Nadler and sophomore Shane Stroup also ran career-best times.
The Florida women's cross country team finished 21st of 24 teams in the 5K race. The Gators finished with 469 team points. Sophomore Jamie Geissler was Florida's top finisher for the second meet this season in 48th place overall. She again improved her career-best 5K time, finishing in 17:46. Freshman Kristen Johnson finished nearly 90 seconds faster than her first collegiate race as the second Gator finisher in 83rd place overall with a time of 18:10. Senior Carling Cookerly finished third among Gators and 123rd overall with a time of 18:36. Freshman Lindsay Sundell finished in a collegiate best time of 18:41 to finish 127th, while senior Mallory Dunn rounded out the Gator scoring in 130th with a time of 18:42. Freshman Devin Gapstur also earned a new collegiate personal best time, finishing in 18:43.
Stanford won both the men's and women's races. Sara Bei of Stanford was the women's individual champion with a time of 16:22. Josh Rohatinsky of BYU was the men's individual champion with a time of 23:40.
The Florida cross country team returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 9 at the ninth annual Disney Cross Country Classic. The men will run at 7:45 a.m., with the women scheduled for 8:55 a.m.