BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The University of South Florida cross country teams battled tough weather conditions at the Paul Short Invitational, hosted by Lehigh University, on Friday. The women's team finished 34th in the gold race (6K), which is the top collegiate division, with 993 points, while the men's team took 27th in the brown race (8K), which is the middle collegiate division, with a score of 662 points.
"We had terrible race conditions," said cross country coach Dena Reif. "It rained all week, so the course was a big mud spot. I was pleased with their effort. It would have been exciting to see them be able to run in dryer conditions. It would also be exciting to see what we could've done with some of our top runners. We've got a lot of work to do and we've got to get healthy."
Junior Nicole Rozario, who was USF's top finisher in each of its first two races, felt the conditions the most. She fell at the three-mile mark and was unable to complete the 6K race. USF's number two runner, Allie Prendergast, was also unavailable for the meet. Junior Yasmin Smith ended up taking the top spot for the women's team, finishing 98th with a time of 22:10, which was just off her time at the Paul Short last season. Juniors Shaniel Chambers (159th, 22:47), Christine Johnson (231st, 23:30) and Devin Spoerle (238th, 23:39) each improved their times from last year's race, despite the nasty weather conditions, while Kristi Degraw-Higgins (267th, 24:37) rounded out the scoring for USF.
Senior Pedro Carela was the top runner for the men's squad, finishing 27th in 26:07. He was followed closely by junior Phillip Wise, who placed 41st with a time of 26:19. Junior Lucas Simari (136th, 27:13), freshman Julian Gines (194th, 27:50) and junior Sean Foster (264th, 29:05) filled the final three scoring places for the Bulls.
"Pedro and Phillip ran better times than last year even with the slower conditions, so it gives me a lot of hope for them to be around 25 minutes consistently on a better course," Reif added. "We didn't run three of the guys that should be in the top five, so we had to rely on our eight and nine guys to be up there scoring points."
Next up, the cross country team will head to the Florida State Invitational in Tallahassee on Friday, Oct. 8.
Men's Team Results (Brown)
1. Princeton, 36
2. Colgate, 169
3. New Hampshire, 181
4. Ithaca, 190
5. Monmouth, 299
27. USF, 662
Men's Individual Results
27. Pedro Carela, 26:07*
41. Phillip Wise, 26:19*
136. Lucas Simari, 27:13
194. Julian Gines, 27:50
264. Sean Foster, 29:05
271. Jonathan Bing, 30:26
Women's Team Results (Gold)
1. Georgetown, 34
2. Virginia, 98
3. James Madison, 169
4. Cornell, 198
5. Columbia
34. USF, 993
Women's Individual Results
98. Yasmin Smith, 22:10
159. Shaniel Chambers, 22:47*
231. Christine Johnston, 23:30*
238. Devin Spoerle, 23:39*
267. Kristi Degraw-Higgins, 24:37
269. Rachael James, 24:43
275. Leandra Mikos, 25:12
354. Erica Anderson, 25:25
