West Florida starts season strong at USF Invite
Underclassmen pace the Argonauts for a fourth-place finish in San Francisco, Calif.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The University of West Florida men’s cross country team started out the season with a bang, finishing fourth out of 17 teams at the USF Cross Country Invitational at Golden Gate Park. UWF won the tiebreaker with Cal State Stanislaus for fourth place based on the team’s sixth-place runner’s finish. Senior Martinique Sykes led the team with a 24th place finish overall (26:12) with a personal-best time on an 8,000-meter course.
Sophomore Cody Haden was the second Argonaut across the finish line, finishing 28th overall (26:26) with a personal-best time on an 8,000-meter course. Haden starts the 2012 season on a very strong note after earning All-GSC Second Team honors last year as a freshman. This was Haden’s first time as the second-place finisher for the Argos.
Sophomore Chris Roach finished third for the Argos and 43rd overall (27:01).
“Martinique ran a really smart race to lead us today,” head coach John Bergen said. “Cody and Chris looked great in the second half of the race. They both picked up several places from the halfway point and had very strong finishes.”
A duo of freshman runners rounded out the top five finishers for the Argonauts. First-year runner Taylor Hickey finished 49th overall (27:14) and fourth for the Argos while fellow freshman David Drumm finished just behind Hickey, placing 53rd overall (27:20) and fifth for UWF.
First-year runners Jacob Slupecki and Sam Hippely finished sixth and seventh, respectively, for the Argonauts in their first 8,000-meter race of their careers.
“Our top freshmen ran extremely well for their first collegiate race,” Bergen said. “They were within 18 second of each other and all finished in our top seven. It was great to see our first-year runners have such a consistent race from start to finish.
West Florida’s entered the season ranked sixth in the south region by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, and will look to climb up the rankings this season with a solid start to the year in San Francisco, Calif. UWF will compete next weekend at the Fleet Feet Invitational on Sept. 8, 2012 in Huntsville, Ala.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
RESULTS
WEST FLORIDA MEN'S RESULTS
1. Tyler Stutzman, Stanford, 24:45; 24. Martinique Sykes, WEST FLORIDA, 26:12pr; 28. Cody Haden, WEST FLORIDA, 26:26pr; 43. Chris Roach, WEST FLORIDA, 27:01; 49. Taylor Hickey, WEST FLORIDA, 27:14; 53. David Drumm, WEST FLORIDA, 27:20; 54. Jacob Slupecki, WEST FLORIDA, 27:27; 58. Sam Hippely, WEST FLORIDA, 27:32; 66. Dominique Sykes, WEST FLORIDA, 27:52; 68. Robert Abellera, WEST FLORIDA, 27:56; 70. Brandon Skeie, WEST FLORIDA, 27:59; 74. Eddie Pagan, WEST FLORIDA, 28:16; 76. Andre Bordelon, WEST FLORIDA, 28:20; 82. A.J. Cunningham, WEST FLORIDA, 28:30; 97. Tyler Mitchell, WEST FLORIDA, 29:15.
WEST FLORIDA MEN'S TEAM RESULTS
1. Stanford University, 19; T4. WEST FLORIDA, 174.
pr – Personal Record
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