Aug. 31, 2005
Dayton, OH - The University of Dayton cross country program is opening another season this Saturday with the Flyer 5K Challenge at Indian Riffle Park in Kettering, OH.
This event serves as a strong opening competition with all five Southwestern Ohio Division I universities - Wright State, Miami, Cincinnati, Xavier and UD - participating. Northern Kentucky and IUPUI are the other schools to round out the field of seven.
The men's team is looking to top defending champion Miami and improve on its fourth place finish from a year ago. Seniors Adam Miller (Kansas, OH) and David Berning (Sidney, OH) look to provide leadership and experience to help bolster Coach Rich Davis' young Flyers.
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They will all be chasing last year's winning time of 15:17 by David Mitchell from Miami, which was a new meet and course record.
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The women's team, led by second-year coach Ann Alyanak, is also looking to upend Miami. Seniors Kate Mone (Cleveland, OH) and Sarah Kessler (Reynoldsburg, OH) are poised to lead the Flyers through the field of 91 women. Sophomore Emily Deet (Gibsonia, PA) finished 25th in last year's Flyer 5K and hopes to improve on her strong rookie campaign.
In the women's race last year, Cincinnati Senior Ruth Limo won the race in 18:43
Last week, the Flyers participated in the Red/Blue 5K, which is an intra-squad scrimmage at the beginning of the season. It was a good warm up for the Flyers as they get ready for seven grueling meets over the next 10 weeks.
After this weekend's event, the Flyers head to South Bend, IN to compete in the National Catholic Invitational on Friday, September 16.
