Oct. 19, 2005

Chicago, Ill.- For the first time in school history, the University of Illinois at Chicago men's cross country broke into the United States Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Region Poll.

The Flames found themselves ranked at No. 13 overall in the Midwest Region following another outstanding showing this past Friday at the Bradley Classic, where they placed fifth overall as a team.

UIC has received consistent performances from juniors Sam Watson (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) and Jim Sulzberger (Peotone, Ill./Bishop McNamara), as well as seniors Mikhail Davidyan (Skokie, Ill./Niles North), Bob Dron (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence) and Graham Waller (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben).

Also leading the way are sophomores Jorge Flores (Chicago, Ill./Foreman) and Joseph Mbari (Gatukuyu, Kenya/Ng'Ethu).

Helping pace the Flames this year as well are first-year runners Alex Sutphen (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Hoffman Estates), Tom Schutzius (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) and Thomas Chin (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West).

UIC seeks to make a big impact at the upcoming Horizon League Cross Country Championships, held on Oct. 29th in Yellow Springs, Ohio beginning at 10:00 a.m.