Oct. 29, 2006

Little Rock, AR - The Florida Atlantic University men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Sun Belt Conference Championships on Saturday.

The Owl women finished third in the team event, trailing only team champion Western Kentucky and Florida International. FAU was led once again by the tandem of Trisha Doyle and Friederike Feil. Doyle was the high finisher for the Owls, placing third in a time of 17:53.39, just three-tenths of a second off of her best time of the year. Feil finished 8th in 18:20.33 and was second among freshmen at the meet.

Monica Grabowiecka (19:08.10, 22nd) and Ashley Wilcox (19:38.39, 34th) also ran close to their best times of the season.

Allison Wilcox (19:42.56, 36th) improved her best mark of the season by more than 30 seconds. Barbara Fronrath (19:53.62, 41st) shaved 45 seconds off of her personal record for the year. Jillian Lopez (20:58.87, 62nd) also ran well in her first conference championship meet.

"The women really ran awesome," head cross country coach Alex Smolka said. "Our goal coming in was to finish in the top five and we did even better than that." On the men's side, FAU was led by freshman Stephen Dassin, who finished 45th in a time of 27:49.33. He was closely followed by teammates Earl Barlow (27:58.78, 47th), Jordan Zwick (27:59.05, 48th) and Taylor Reeves (28:20.35, 50th).

Freshman Timothy Haines (29:13.63) finished in 58th place, where he would soon be joined by Kendrick Ribeiro (29:41.45, 61st). Kyle Byrtus (32:28.64, 68th) rounded out the field for the Owls.

"Our focus for the men has been improving over the course of the season. We had six of our seven runners set personal records here today. I think the fact that we finished 11th is a testament to the depth of the conference," Smolka would say after the race.

"Both our men and women are young teams so to come in and compete this well at our first Sun Belt Championship meet really excites us about the future."

Men's Individual Finishers (8K) 45. Stephen Dassin 27:49.33 47. Earl Barlow 27:58.78 48. Jordan Zwick 27:59.05 50. Taylor Reeves 28:20.35 58. Timothy Haines 29:13.63 61. Kendrick Ribeiro 29:41.45 68. Kyle Byrtus 32:28.64

Women's Individual Finishers (5K) 3. Trisha Doyle 17:53.39 8. Friederike Feil 18:20.33 22. Monika Grabowiecka 19:08.10 34. Ashley Wilcox 19:38.39 36. Allison Wilcox 19:42.56 41. Barbara Fronrath 19:53.62 62. Jillian Lopez 20:58.87