The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Cross Country Team 16th At Notre Dame Invitational
9/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 29, 2006
SOUTH BEND, Ind. ----- The UAB cross country team, running without its top runner, finished 16th here Friday at the 51st Notre Dame Invitational.
The event is one of the nation's oldest and largest intercollegiate cross country meets.
The Blazers were 16th out of a highly-competitive 19-team field that included seven ranked teams, two (Michigan and Illinois) of which are among the top seven in the country.
UAB was without senior Elizabeth Ambrus, who has been nursing a sore achilles heel this week. The absence of the 2005 Conference USA individual champion had an effect on the Blazers' finish. Ambrus last Saturday's Great American Festival in Hoover and would have been among the favorites in Friday's competition.
Third-ranked Michigan took the team title with 57 points, easily ahead of team runner-up North Carolina State which scored 95. Providence was third with 120, followed by Florida State (124), Illinois (126), Weber State (225), Florida (241), Georgia (241), North Carolina (255) and Missouri (270).
The Wolverines' Erin Webster was the individual winner with a time of 16:36, 16 seconds better than runner-up Susan Kuijken of Florida State who clocked a 16:52.
"When you win and win as we have so far this season," said UAB head coach Ray Stanfield, "it's a dose of reality. But I would rather have this now than later in the season."
Despite the disappointing finish, Stanfield was pleased with the effort of several of his runners, including junior Whitney Mays who turned in one of her career-best finishes to place 42nd with a time of 17:41. Elizabeth Hilligoss and Katie Stepp finished 73rd and 74th, respectively, with times of 17:59 and 18:00.
Jennifer Thompson and Ryanne Fortney were UAB's other scorers on Friday.
"Obviously, if Elizabeth (Ambrus) had run, the result would have been different," said Stanfield, "but this race is over. We have to get ready now for pre-nationals."
UAB will now prepare for the pre-national meet, coming up Oct. 14 at Terre Haute,Ind., site of the 2006 NCAA Championships.
