Sept. 5, 2003

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford Men's and Women's Cross Country teams opened up the 2003 season with sixth place finishes at the Belmont Opener, Friday night in Nashville, Tenn. Freshman Lauren Blankenship led the women finishing fifth overall running two miles in 11:09 and junior Bryan Baddorf led the men finishing 10th overall running a 5K in 15:16.

"This was a good opening meet for us," Bulldogs assistant Chad James said. "We have an exciting season ahead of us and both the men and the women worked extremely hard during the summer to get to this point."

The men were without two of their top runners as Ben Whitaker and Scott Maurer both did not travel due to sickness. Chad Johnson and Ricky McLain finished 13th and 17th, respectively, finishing in 15:25 and 15:35. Alabama won the team event with 32 points followed by: Western Kentucky with 64 points, Belmont with 75 point, Southern Indiana with 97, Evansville with 130, Samford with 135, Vanderbilt 173, Lipscomb 199 and Tennessee State 295.

Following Blankenship for the women, Michelle Brewer finished 24th with a time of 11:39, Lauren Floyd finshed with a time of 11:48 for 27th and Jessica Brewer finished 32nd with a time of 11:49. Vanderbilt won the women's title finishing with 46 points followed by: UAB with 100 points, Western Kentucky 103, Southern Illinois 111, Alabama 112, Samford 120, Belmont 122, Evansville 216, Lipscomb 238, and Beville C.C. 235.

"I was very impressed with the way some of the freshmen stepped up and performed tonight," James said. "All the athletes ran their hearts out and if we keep up the hard work we should have success the rest of the year."

The Bulldogs will next compete at the Alabama Invitation September 19th in Tuscaloosa Alabama.