Sep. 11, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The University of Dayton men's cross country team finished second and the women placed fifth in the Mel Brodt Invitational 8K run at Bowling Green State University. The men set a record with the fastest 5-man average in school history. Brian Gilchrist's (Novi, MI) time of 25:35 is the sixth-fastest time in UD history.
Cincinnati was the team champion on the men's side with a total of 32 points and Tennessee was the champion on the women's side with 23 points. In the men's race, UD finished second with 52 points, followed by Ohio (69), Bowling Green (96), and IUPUI (121).
The Dayton men ran an outstanding race and were led by sophomore Brian Gilchrist's (Novi, MI) impressive 2nd place run of 25:35, just four seconds off the leader Austin Schiele from Ohio University. This was the sixth fastest time in UD history in an 8K run. The second Flyer to finish the race was Junior David Berning (Sidney, OH) in 6th place with a time of 25:45. He was ahead of senior Brian Roberts (Findlay, OH) who came in 13th (26:13), sophomore Eric Contreras (Centerville, OH) in 14th (26:15), freshman Billy Przbyla (Centerville, OH) in 17th (26:21), freshman Mike Connolly (Strongsville, OH) 21st (26:52), and freshman Dan Sammons (Johnstown, OH) in 28th (27:20).
In the women's race, Tennessee's 23 points lead the field, followed by Bowling Green (57), Cincinnati (91), IUPUI (91), and the UD women finished fifth place with a point total of 114.
Senior Michelle Griffin (Lancaster, OH) was UD's top finisher, coming through the line with a time of (19:01) and finishing in fifteenth place. Griffin was followed by teammates sophomore Tessa Mott (Columbus, OH) in 23rd place (19:20), sophomore Kiera Gottemoeller (Ft. Loramie, OH) in 25th (19:21), senior Ruth Hinde (Kettering, OH) in 26th (19:27), sophomore Lauren Fenske (Dublin, OH) in 28th (19:39), sophomore Amanda Tucker (Dublin, OH) in 37th (19:53), and freshman Emily Deet (Gibsonia, PA) in 41st (20:05).
This was the Flyer women's second meet under new coach Ann Alyanak, and their second top five finish in a row. The men finished in the top five for their second week in a row as well.
Both teams will compete next week at the National Catholic Invitational in South Bend, IN on Friday the 17th at 4:30.
