The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Greater Louisville Classic
Gammon Leads UAB To Third Place Finish
10/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 4, 2008
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- For the third straight meet the UAB cross country team ran away with a third place finish at the Greater Louisville Cross County Classic on Saturday.
Leading the way for the Blazers once again was sophomore Stephanie Gammon who finished the 5k course in 17:28.27 to place ninth overall. The time smashes Gammon's previous personal record of 18:14.00 set at the 2007 Notre Dame Invitational. Gammon has finished first for the Blazers in all three meets this year.
"We had some great individual results," said UAB head coach Ray Stanfield. "We were better than we were at Memphis. It was also a better field. We beat a lot of good teams. It was a good performance."
Junior Kristina Olsen followed up in 38th place overall (18:23.89) with freshman Sandra Lundberg finishing in 42nd place overall (18:27.63). Rounding out the scoring for the Blazers were freshmen Rhiannon Johns (18:31.30) who finished in 44th place and sophomore Kendel Hood (18:54.68) in 82nd place. Lundberg, Johns and Hood all set personal bests at the meet.
"With the freshmen, you just got to keep plugging away," said Stanfield. "They keep getting better every week."
Out of 32 teams, Texas took first place overall with 79 points. Georgia State finished second (198) with UAB close behind in third (201). Southern Illinois (202) and Vanderbilt (207) rounded out the top five. Janet Jesang from Western Kentucky took the top individual honor with a time of 16:52.95.
Also competing for the Blazers but not included in the scoring were Clara Cid (18:56.29), Katie Jorgensen (19:19.84), Colleen Standridge (19:21.04), Lucy Taylor (19:31.65), Kristina Vaughn (19:50.26) and Lacey Wright (21.11.89). Jorgensen, Standridge and Taylor also recorded personal bests at the meet.
The Blazers head to Orlando, Fla. next week to compete in the Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic on Oct. 11. The race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. CDT.
