PHILADELPHIA--The University of Dayton cross country program ran well in the Atlantic 10 Championships this morning in Philadelphia. Leading the men was freshman Mike Andersen with a ninth place finish and leading the women was freshman Amy Kempf. Both the men and women finished eighth at the event.

Andersen's time of 25:06 is the fastest 8K time ever run by a Flyer. The old record of 25:13 was set by Rick Heitkamp in 1998. Andersen was also named Atlantic 10 Outstanding Rookie of the Year. He and Kevin Tscholl (2000) are the only Flyers to earn that award. He also earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Team thanks to his ninth place finish at the meet. Andersen is only the third Flyer in program history to be on the All-Conference Team, joining Rick Heitkamp (1998) and Dan Moroney (1999).

Scoring for the Flyer men along with Andersen was junior Brian Gilchrist (26:18), sophomore Billy Przybyla (26:28), sophomore Mike Connolly (26:30), and junior Eric Contreras (26:30).

Scoring in the defensive specialist position for the Flyers were sophomore Daniel Sammons (26:32) and freshman Matt Peters (26:44).

Seven of the top nine Flyer fininshers set 2005 season best times including Andersen (lowered his season best by 27 seconds), Gilchrist (lowered his season best by 19 seconds), Przybyla (lowered his season best by 13 seconds), Connolly (lowered his season best time by 35 seconds), Sammons (lowered his personal best time by 20 seconds, now 21st on Harrier Heroes list), Peters (tied his personal best), and freshman Tim Kaelin (27:17, lowered his personal best for the third time this season).

The women's team was once again led by freshman Amy Kempf (19:16). Also running well for the Flyers were freshman Ellen Nienhaus (19:23), sophomore Corey Fullenkamp (19:34), junior Meg Watkins (19:39) and freshman Jacqueline Jaworek (19:41).

The defensive specialists for the women were freshman Anne Oltman (19:54) and junior Emily Haas (20:05).

The next event for both the men and the women are the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The women run on November 5 in Bloomington, IN and the men run a week later, November 12, also in Bloomington.