Oct. 4, 2008

LOUISVILLE, KY - The UD women's cross country squad placed sixth out of 32 teams on Saturday at the Greater Louisville Classic with a team score of 211 points. The Flyers were led by the efforts of three sophomores, each of whom individually placed in the top 40, and saw seven runners record personal bests on the day.

Although the University of Texas ran away with the team title, it was a marked improvement from just a season ago for Dayton. At last year's competition UD placed 12th overall, however, the 2008 Flyers managed to shave 30 seconds off the team's average time and climbed six places in the standings.

Sophomore Maureen Bulgrin continued her blazing start to the season with a time of 17:56.18. Not only was that mark good enough for 18th place in a tough field, but it also reserved her another spot on the school's all-time best list. In leading the team for the third straight meet, her sub-18 minute time gave her the 11th lowest 5K result in program history - third best by someone not named Laura Schweitzer or Kara Storage.

Bulgrin was followed across the finish line by classmate Liz Coorey, who logged a time of 18:06 and took 21st place in the race. Coorey's effort was also good enough to give her a spot on the all-time list, as she ran the 17th best time in school history.

Another sophomore, Brigitte Sherman, crossed next for the Flyers in 18:26 - good for a personal record, 38th overall at the meet, and the 32nd best time ever for a Flyer.

Senior Ellen Nienhaus and freshman Elissa Mason also clocked in with sub-19 minute times as they rounded out the scoring for UD. Nienhaus, who scored for the third time this season, ran the course in a personal best time of 18:45.23 to claim 66th overall. Mason tied her previous best, which came at the National Catholic Invitational two weeks ago, and came in right on Nienhaus' heels with a time of 18:45.84.

More personal bests came from defensive runners Alex Miles, a junior, and freshman Lindsey Cummings. Miles logged a time of 19:06 to take 93rd overall, while Cummings claimed 96th place in 19:09.

The squad will test its mettle again next Friday at the All-Ohio Championships, which will take place in Delaware, OH. The race is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start.