Franciscan's Cross Country Teams Shatter Records at Nat'l Catholic Invitational

SOUTH BEND, IN - Franciscan University of Steubenville's men's and women's cross country teams traveled to the University of Notre Dame to compete in the National Catholic Champions Friday, September 19th. Both teams improved significantly from last year's results and broke school records in the process. The men's team placed 17th of 23 DII and DIII teams while the women's team finished 4th of 24.

Exactly one month since the loss of their team-mate, Kelly Roggensack, both teams ran the hardest they've ever run. The women's team placed 12th of 35 DI, DII and DIII schools, finishing 4th of DII and DIII teams-a significant improvement over last year's 12th place finish among DII and DIII schools.

Junior Erin Bliss and sophomore Monica Rust both broke Franciscan's school record for the 5k distance of 19:38. Bliss demolished this time setting a new school record of 19:10 (placing 7^th amongst the smaller schools). Rust followed close behind placing 14th with a time of 19:28.

Freshman Annie Asmussen ran a great race, cutting off more than two minutes from the Cal-U invite two weeks before, running 20:26 and setting a personal record. All of Franciscan's women running in the junior varsity women's race (sophomore Lauren Garabedian, senior Jessica Berning and sophomore Andrea Scott) each set personal records as well.

Success also ran rampant on the men's team, with the men finishing 24th of 33 DI, DII and DIII schools (a vast improvement over last year's 34th of 34 place finish). The men came in 17th of 23 DII and DIII schools.

Freshman Bill Jones set a new school record of 26:07 for the 8k race while finishing 2nd in the DII, DIII category. Other personal records were set by freshman Kevin Leroy, placing 66 and running in a time of 28:29. Junior Kevin Codd, improving each week in bounding strides, cut one more minute off of his personal record from the Cal-U invite finishing the race in 29:31.

Head coach Dr. Dan Kuebler was satisfied with both teams' performances. "Everyone ran extremely well," he commented post-race. "Both teams are the best Franciscan University has ever seen and the best is still yet to come."

The men's and women's team will celebrate their successes by training hard this upcoming week and preparing for their next race at Saint Vincent College on September 27, 2008. Races times start at 10:30 a.m.