Contact: Cara Lynn Teague
Phone: (850) 450-5646
October 12, 2004

Freshmen Lead West Florida at Disney Classic

ORLANDO, FLA. - After a three week hiatus due to Hurricane Ivan, the West Florida women's cross country team set back to the trails at the annual Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic. Led primarily by freshmen after the team has been plagued with injuries, UWF placed 24th out of 32 teams in the 5K University race. Official results were released today.

The Argonauts' top finisher was freshman Dawn Kane (pictured), a graduate of Pensacola High School. She ran a time of 20:30.34 for 116th place among 301 participants. Kane was backed by junior Jen Pulmano at 146th with a time of 21:05.05; freshman Kim Burgess with a mark of 21:06.14 for 148th place; junior Naomi Evangelista in 158th with 21:22.92; and freshman Lindsey Failing at 180th in 21:46.54 to round out UWF's top five.

Also competing for West Florida were senior Summer Forester in 207th place with a time of 22:15.59; freshman Annemarie Saxer at 216th with 22:28.06; freshman Diana Sitar finishing 226th in 22:39.19; junior Frency Ramos in 233rd with a mark of 22:47.19; sophomore Kara Chamberlain in 238th place at 22:54.07; and freshman Kim Gallagher at 252nd in 23:24.71.

As a team, the Argonauts netted a score of 159, edging NCAA Division II opponents Florida Gulf Coast (204) and Eckerd (202). The meet was won by Florida with 23 points, Division II Tampa came in second (41), and Florida Atlantic was third (80).

On Oct. 23, the Argonauts compete in the Gulf South Conference Championships in Huntsville, Ala.