University of Richmond
Spider Alumni Open
Cross Country Wins Spider Alumni Open
08/30/2008 | Cross Country
Aug. 30, 2008
RICHMOND - The Richmond men's and women's cross country teams opened their 2008 seasons Saturday morning by winning the Spider Alumni Open at St. Catherine's Park in Richmond. Junior Andrew Benford won the men's 5K in record time, while sophomore Diana Filtz took the women's two-mile.
Benford helped the Spiders take meet title, winning the event in a time of 15:03.20 -- breaking the previous meet record of 15:06.6 set in 2004 by Spider alum Kevin Rhue.
Benford's fellow junior Matt Llano finished fourth in 15:22.20, sophomore Tim Quinn took seventh (15:37.50), and two rookies - Levi Grandt (15:38.90) and Tim Smith (15:45.70) finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in their first collegiate races.
Richmond's 23 points bested the 55 points from Navy and the 57 by VCU. VCU's Stephen Mutisya, who was last year's individual champion, and Jay Wyss took second and third overall, while Matt Leyndyke was Navy's top finisher in 10th.
"I thought it was an excellent race today," said head men's coach Steve Taylor. "The team ran as a group today up front and it was nice to get a win over Navy and VCU. Our runners' one-to-five split was fairly tight, but we have time to pull those athletes closer together in the coming weeks. Altogether it was a good effort on a hot and humid day."
Junior Jon Wilson was 11th (15:52.90) and senior Garrett Graham was 15th (15:56.60) to round out the Spiders in the scoring.
On the women's side, Filtz led the Spiders to a clean sweep of the top-10 collegiate spots in a time of 11:15.00. The sophomore was five seconds faster than classmate Nicol Traynor and 15 seconds better than another sophomore Julie Rechel.
"Our young team showed promise for this early in the season," said head women's coach Lori Taylor. "They took charge early and finished well. This meet is also a nice opportunity to see the freshmen compete for the first time and also estimate the fitness level of the returning upperclassmen. Filtz, Traynor, and Rechel led the team well throughout and it was a nice touch for Diana (Filtz) to pull off the win. It will be a big confidence booster for her and we're encouraged for the upcoming season."
Senior Mary Bertram (11:45.40), sophomore Erin Lunny (11:52.80) and freshmen Emma Berry (12:00.20) and Carter Norbo (12:01.70) captured spots six through nine, respectively, to round out the Spiders in the scoring.
Melissa Douglass was VCU's top finisher in 14th-place.
As always, the Spider Alumni Open welcomes back former Richmond cross-country runners. Lyndsey Webber was top alum for in fifth overall (11:36.10), while John Ciccarelli took fifth overall for the men (15:26.20).
The Spider cross country teams return to action Sept. 13 at the Navy Salty Dog Invitational.
