Sept. 26, 2003

Three Rivers, Mich. - Senior Jenni Goebel crossed the finish line in fifth place for the women's team while junior Mikhail Davidyan took 11th to lead the men's squad as UIC competed on Friday evening at the 78th Central Collegiate Championships.

Overall the men's squad finished fifth in the six-team field while the women took sixth out of seven teams with just five runners competing.

Davidyan paced the men, completing the 8k course in 26:04.60 to finish 11th out of 50 runners. Rookie Jose Macias (26:41.45/24th) and Billy-Poole Harris (26:52.68/27th) both cracked the top-30 while Jim Sulzberger (27:25.00/37th), Tristan Roche (27:28.81/40th), Graham Waller (28:13.14/45th) and Steve Jeske (28:21.53) rounded out UIC's competitors on Friday.

In the women's 5K race, which featured 72 runners, Goebel chalked up another top-five finish, crossing in 18:05.00. Susie Martinez (18:52.00/20th) and Lizet Diaz (18:56.00/23rd) finished among the first 25 while Andrea Dennison (19:06.00) placed 31st and Rachel Covert (19:22.00) came in 40th.

Western Michigan took first in the men's race with its five placing runners all finishing in the top-12. UW-Milwaukee finished second, followed by Wright State, Loyola "B", UIC and Bowling Green.

Ball State took home top honors in the women's race with three runners among the first five finishers. Western Michigan was a close second, followed by Bowling Green, Loyola, UW-Milwaukee, UIC and Wright State.

The Flames will be back in action next weekend as they compete in the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational at Montrose Harbor on Saturday morning, October 4th.