The University of Tampa cross country team posted strong finishes at the Florida Tech Invite last Saturday.
The Spartan women won their second consecutive race, beating conference enemies Nova Southeastern and Florida Tech.
Leading the UT women in the invite was senior standout Heather Nicolosi, who raced to a second place finish in the 5k race, giving her back-to-back top-5 finishes.
Nicolosi was happy of the team’s performance, especially of one teammate.
“I think we did well, but our team has to really battle with the current loss of one of our most talented runners, Jess Butler,” she said. “Kaia Hampton really stepped up for us Saturday.”
With Nicolosi leading the way, Kaia Hampton, Lindsay Edwards and Kelly Hagen gave Tampa four top-ten finishers ending the race in fourth, sixth, and ninth respectively.
As runners felt happy about the Florida Tech Invite, Coach Slaven shared the same attitude.
“We have a very good team, and there were strong performances spread around the board,” Slaven said. “I was happy to see the freshman girls run well and improve. Our team is gelling as a group.”
Other noticeable performers for the women were Chanelle Cox (11), Dana Glodek (15) and Katie O’Brien (18).
As the women won their second consecutive race, the UT men also had a strong day finishing in second behind Embry-Riddle University.
Leading the Spartans was sophomore Charles Toledo, who finished the 8k race in third place.
Adding to the mix was Kevin Lane (7) and Bryan Garcia (8), who had strong performances to give the Spartans three top-ten finishers.
Also placing in the top-15 for the men were Lewis Price and Tory Webb, finishing in twelfth and fifteenth respectively.
As both the men and women cross country teams performed highly at the Florida Tech Invite, attention for the team now shifts to the University of Florida Invite that will take place, Sept. 17 in Gainesville, Fla.
The Spartans finished in second place in the UF Invite in 2009, and are looking forward to the same success this year.
Preparing for the invite will stay the same for UT.
“Our practicing will be the same this week; we will go hard like we usually do,” Slaven said. “You can’t rest too often, we will race on Friday tired, but ready.”
The University of Florida Invite will be a test for the Spartans. As a Division II school, there will be many competitive Division I schools racing.
Some highly noticeable Division I teams that will race are The University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida.
Expectations for Tampa are strong despite the tough competition.
Slaven expects the team to perform highly, with hopes of three of the women’s runners finishing in the low eighteens, while hoping to see Charles Toledo finish in the low twenties for the men.
As Nicolosi gets ready for the race, she prepares like any other invite, but knows it will be a test.
“It’s a pretty big race for us, it has a lot of competition and we get a chance to race a lot of D-I schools and see more competition than we have had,” said Nicolosi.
With UT normally putting up the best times for Division II schools at the University of Florida Invite, the team expects nothing to change on Friday.
Michael Paonessa can be reached at mpaonessa@spartans.ut.edu.